Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
4 G! S4 d K3 Z: f- r2 d% ~7 bthe 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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0 _' ^. G0 y' k- X* |(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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( P$ J R7 M' v! H" f( m1 aClick on either of the above images for more information.
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. [* F, ^% z9 g% d1 u' g* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
. n. M- E8 X4 Dbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
p) S( \2 c8 p! I8 T4 GThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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/ |1 E; @; y. I/ p. q# 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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7 v+ D! O6 q/ }' l4 i9 d1 UNagra 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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! G- M! q8 q, D7 t* @* U8 pApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
! s: Y( J' E# A9 {6 P- C; L' j0 qhave 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
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
! Q1 Z1 j& A1 d" u# T: BDSP) 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
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
/ w e$ f/ `3 Jelectronics and be very expensive.
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$ [& H4 U: s; V. H( ^' eCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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! r) ], a* k/ W. LTape for the Nagra SN
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3 p$ }9 k" |1 J: e. [1 k" |# gI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
) O" \1 d7 ]* E8 ~/ j5 L" Kthe 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
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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
) P0 K1 B9 R, @: |& o: g' Uthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
1 }- T9 l( z9 q, S( J1 F7 hseveral 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
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things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
* p3 i. Y0 _9 ?; U1 j( m. |: v/ t; lVERY silly money.
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