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
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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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5 |; w+ a: R9 u& G2 z0 G; d& W4 A* k(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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& P2 i: l0 [! u5 }, i" v6 \* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
0 ]: [/ E; C' _. R2 e: G: mbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
7 C$ A7 I1 o: x" a% kThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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& B8 Y3 l5 A( l; I) _& kNagra 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
) q5 e* h, J; M( lhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
, y, S/ E$ C& Q8 b3 [8 }' {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
6 k. f [7 ]$ @* u3 x7 G# y$ QDSP) 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
7 E9 p7 P' N% W) _6 k, o8 p8 o+ wbe 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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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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- q9 h+ e" e9 V# |. UTape for the Nagra SN
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* r1 Z' k/ m3 h$ zI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
" u6 O- z9 a( i) m# s* bthe 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
" k' Z" p9 O! M! o'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
) P$ ~( T& h, jseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
8 m' Z- {8 y! k4 D$ Ronto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
- A4 ~) [2 x5 ?things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
. @" [0 b3 Q5 o7 pVERY silly money.
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