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
1 S, r8 \3 }$ Q: b7 i5 V" Tmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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' Y q4 j! ?, g) j$ i6 G0 D2 S( y(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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+ M e) p# g" l l" o) \$ Y' H$ KClick on either of the above images for more information.
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5 U8 U0 N" G: n' y y8 \6 } b* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
( }: o0 M- Y0 `5 T6 L6 K( `2 pbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
/ P) Q9 ~8 m$ m# Z8 z) @% `. pThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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; c% D$ A* H$ Q- s0 U5 x2 ENagra 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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1 B$ O+ g1 q6 T9 s6 W. E c7 i PNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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; X% X$ ?4 ~/ B9 ^# u( sApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
, S. w: [% k. m( q% N; nhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
) {! o7 U( I: D+ b# btherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
; L% c. r9 e/ K6 hrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
# r r' H1 s# j5 }, U, E, PDSP) 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
1 P9 U7 r+ g) n+ `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
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electronics and be very expensive.
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! \4 {; j- `/ ]0 ]Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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2 o$ z9 Y. K! s' j% s4 |Tape for the Nagra SN
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' u: f+ A4 U1 @( j: L- w6 kI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
% y4 b7 Q3 S4 H( c f% Ntape 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
- |, X Z$ k; q) G: w# \the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
) F. t( N% o& }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
5 w. l/ X/ t2 u) Y+ n# v6 \things 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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