Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
2 f) W0 e/ h6 Ithe 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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: i0 j8 g$ d$ @" ?* ^9 b0 z* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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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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0 W% e5 h" o8 B$ ]1 [, sNagra 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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1 _/ b2 R4 \8 P3 J* J0 {8 f" iNagra 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
' s1 b9 i! w; ?. n) i$ D$ Irecording 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$ z- N/ {3 Hbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
5 T# P0 L n- q- q7 P+ Relectronics 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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5 u, ^ o1 ]; ]* x* i/ PTape for the Nagra SN
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. ?) L; Q9 B0 A( _0 \I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
% K1 v. m: I f- V( Ithe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
, ^3 a0 T, ? k) ]wanted 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
% m. |9 ^* ], S) Y$ d1 x* O'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
5 m* h/ b* X. T. |! q+ i3 Pseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
# A) k! ?. R1 Y, uonto 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
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