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
) o. j. ^! i8 n3 z0 y) M1 A3 @the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
5 F0 s8 h# x! N' l9 y) `- |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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7 @7 Y1 X, `3 w& g/ q. ?9 a3 eClick on either of the above images for more information.
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9 i2 M1 q. G5 K" p* 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.
/ S6 [, \ U& z) _& m- Y! n' XThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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5 V5 z d' O: P0 p% X1 @0 f1 RNagra 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 s9 V; x# C: M( ?Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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% t8 ^2 g1 x( X+ K3 mNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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" |8 f( D" r, m. O! L% ]Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
% ^6 k1 M; ?/ Khave 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
- t: h$ y) D! t! U1 R6 UDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
N3 d* Y% v3 |/ Q* B6 urecorders. 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
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electronics and be very expensive.
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4 [. X' C, Q% z; O* W+ qCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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0 L7 L8 Q# }' d4 A3 g3 qTape for the Nagra SN
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3 p8 B( k2 c _I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
( d! l2 {% j4 _7 tthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
n( Z7 Y$ H' M# z3 Zwanted 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
$ L% c5 H0 X6 e+ T* e'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
2 ^# O- L0 o' zseveral 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
0 O4 P9 P% O, B* T* r4 _things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
! f( F7 N- w0 y- `5 d; OVERY silly money.
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