Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
4 j5 X0 u- B% v) P) Kthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
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the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
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machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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3 R' {# h1 O- d3 I J8 B- p4 e* U(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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; R8 J! E* l8 Q( S0 V7 C2 v9 k* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
3 v) \$ G2 J# |& B; M$ y4 |beware, 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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Apparently 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
$ W; p) Y. ]; W! P orecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
6 W/ |7 B) M/ j% vDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
$ S7 E0 u; ?# U: W0 _& Yrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
1 R& s) s4 D2 ~8 V; e- k& Ntruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
. q2 p) V9 U0 K6 p" e# F) qbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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Tape for the Nagra SN
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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
- M0 ], ~6 E. M2 n# h( G9 T, wthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
( h2 v" v! @6 k( {wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
9 e- W6 ?" k* J7 A! |: @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
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the 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
7 x$ Q+ ~7 b0 I- W& b9 b; wonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
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things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
1 s7 D& [* H1 c9 L& X, t2 A, _2 eVERY silly money.
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