Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
% H% d0 q( z) m7 I% kthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
6 O; ]- y; K' o sthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
3 e* C7 y7 J" N0 |! v0 B0 K/ `9 Q! ^machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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! e; [% F. G$ Z [7 z! W* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
& g( N+ S0 ~, R8 G6 v3 kbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
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There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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Nagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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: {* A4 C, |3 y) E- MApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
4 E! u5 o k( ]4 y1 ^6 frecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
1 F f% v6 I( v) y# l. `! hDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
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recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
0 T* F* c: O4 M* R- W& R' y7 Welectronics and be very expensive.
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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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& s, o# U4 Q* d7 Y& D1 DTape for the Nagra SN
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5 W/ {4 L0 B. c+ H1 O+ f/ c8 q5 QI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
6 w# `+ l+ o7 o$ xthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
- m7 Z' }% f; Y8 Hwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
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'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
' I/ W7 w0 P* V( S& e! t. X8 s% Fthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
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several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
8 k, @5 }- ]0 `) ythings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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VERY silly money.
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