Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
3 [9 ]9 y9 \7 i/ g4 i1 S$ l0 {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
0 \. ]3 i: p0 O" i- {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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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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: b. ?- I7 ~3 i* B9 F$ `% \" j* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
! [' G8 s2 D' A' V# u! D& X* wbeware, 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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1 W0 ` y/ [$ C8 {Nagra 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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" x# U& I8 I, qNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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/ C; V' k4 W3 `, RApparently 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
5 P v/ @, q! ?' u8 irecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
% n2 c: ?' Y, X) \DSP) 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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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
# ^8 Y+ m1 x2 r: eelectronics and be very expensive.
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6 k- q, l% ~& \) m* }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
$ C- G/ r8 x) s: Sthe 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
3 ?! _8 @% ?% M4 @6 mtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
% H8 _, X5 t) Z# M'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
: L- L( \! f: T9 ~- r) hseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
5 @6 h0 T8 F' L( S+ yonto 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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