Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
; w M ^: r6 F2 v% a' L, mthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
4 l `0 q' T* n, W& ^the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
! V7 Q+ C4 @% Ymachines, 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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u+ K' ]& ?, P: a! J/ zClick 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
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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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. x' l, M- n8 c0 j- K/ \7 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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Nagra 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
* T$ J8 a, ^5 E& w4 arecording 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
% }, D* {9 b( ^, rrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
% A3 Z: B v/ j7 b6 u# G* ~, I; i4 ^8 Rtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
' b* J6 V& a* a s% g, v: d: wbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
' a2 H- D+ N' I0 L$ Delectronics and be very expensive.
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! ]; r' w6 Y4 t O0 V6 [) KCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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9 ?% U T" Z6 z6 Y$ {Tape for the Nagra SN
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0 g$ U: O. @ t# nI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
1 @7 @: ~0 H( wthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
1 q( A! S6 c( @4 _- H2 d1 Lwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
5 K& E( B1 a- K! ~8 y% L/ p' u ztape 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
3 L; n0 F4 q! _0 z- z* \9 c/ Ethe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
; B7 [& b- k7 q! gseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
- {$ D4 V" ^( ~onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
3 D# w$ L# k( q$ H* n6 ^0 ^3 L3 Uthings 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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