Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
3 F. t2 j' G0 {7 Y3 Gthe 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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! `$ L0 O8 q" P" JClick 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
) G# w& c/ m/ w* Bbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
9 l9 g: z3 n4 }. O+ n: s- _) ]There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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5 k5 _ a/ d& I4 ?5 X& lNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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) E# m; B) f/ Q+ u, X7 oNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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5 U/ y$ t0 z$ y9 l6 W5 i @- RNagra 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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& S* ]3 I, W7 @& Z$ lApparently 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
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
* d* X6 f7 {2 i( J M( ~& ]* H8 UDSP) 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
7 ^" R" J, y# J5 g5 Velectronics 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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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
0 T( D4 k% D7 G' X4 r: |% F2 H+ rthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
8 }' @$ g' J; W2 V/ n% xwanted 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
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the 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
, z& W1 J% R7 ~' \; |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
. n& A* z! m7 M3 W" C0 L% wVERY silly money.
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