Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
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the 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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(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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2 ?0 n7 |: h7 N8 l7 N% K* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
& V7 `$ O3 Q9 T: ^2 qbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
! q: S+ r$ Z' c; WThere 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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7 n! x0 d9 R. s& MNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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$ f4 h$ \( D/ A/ r# m2 y4 t, b O3 fNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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- [% N2 v; y9 |# P" v0 RNagra 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
) \0 G! X5 F$ O- }, ehave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
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DSP) 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
. v: @ x; N; Xbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
* m( U1 e/ K: Z9 A8 Helectronics 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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/ J/ o0 e5 E# A$ r( x9 kTape for the Nagra SN
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8 W. y4 t. D, l3 J2 I* sI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
) Q8 g/ f! z0 Nthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
& [5 G) }! x; I7 Y5 `wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
0 |9 N, X: q2 f. G9 C; ytape 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
- H3 J& C# n+ E5 g* E, eonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
- p$ f5 x1 q4 O# I+ m gthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
" W1 Y0 J6 O" b8 @; J" |4 C9 l& u2 hVERY silly money.
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