Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
! d8 e1 A# Y; pthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
( Z. P. T) `. \" {3 `9 u9 ithe 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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7 b: [$ g4 O6 j3 z9 sClick 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
6 r$ g) X* o u' _$ o' d7 [* u. {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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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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- D3 U/ s* f& \Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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, m& q$ U: J0 P+ P: _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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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 g2 V# H" w: X* G% g/ qDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
8 U \. Y+ D3 krecorders. 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
: a- P" ]& R/ _5 B" {# }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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+ M. H2 l" H, p2 @1 i5 }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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
: X+ P2 q* V! ewanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
; h8 b6 E6 h0 H7 Utape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
( M$ N% _9 m& z" G5 t; E7 j'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
! L; x J4 b+ u( O( monto 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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