Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
8 Y; N9 ^, A) }# K' r) N& Ithe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
: ~* \; o9 M! R- k. Xthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
, _( r% P2 X" A- H4 S- A" D$ ] a4 {machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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# `: \; d H7 ^4 J(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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$ e+ ], `4 _4 L' k0 @Click on either of the above images for more information.
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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
2 S4 c9 k) {, n0 Lbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
8 H" H# q! c8 o# LThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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- q( ~/ n$ I E3 ^% BNagra 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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) o( U# {& I' y% n" H$ yNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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" b# e' L( b% P% E3 ZNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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6 m# s9 }' [0 i" a: R+ P& \Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
4 \& z$ M3 v/ }" t8 K$ l- R! F( Phave 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
9 p! T# X1 r% W: M( d9 pDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
* O7 j3 D7 e( D& N! yrecorders. 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
. x, f7 r0 ~; A# V6 N8 f/ Pbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
, J$ H$ X2 [3 P2 o* t; \electronics 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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Tape for the Nagra SN
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! y5 `4 f% B) B( d" A9 L5 UI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
q, ~& [" b+ y. A7 D& f" Qthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
5 t8 m" K' ]3 C8 h1 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
2 X6 ^( r- |" ` V& i: x h'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
# _% a: @% c4 c4 M6 [6 Ithe 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
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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
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VERY silly money.
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