Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
: S- H7 X3 `/ o. qthe 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
3 i# ?* Q$ S8 |6 Gmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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/ P* c3 ~4 V8 h& q3 @4 I2 v(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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) q2 `9 Q( S+ }* k: M+ v$ p, O8 z: }Click on either of the above images for more information.
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( r. O1 F; Z4 _$ x0 m8 L1 u2 ?* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
% H5 o: E4 E8 h: p1 `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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4 V3 |9 W7 D% I z, [2 @% e/ J& o- ^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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Y6 q M; Z+ ~/ Y3 v% q N# tNagra 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
; [$ p) k% p" S9 @ X# otherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
6 @. p) r+ F; T# Qrecording 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
; b9 t7 u/ s8 k7 o, Zrecorders. 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
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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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Tape for the Nagra SN
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4 J# O G6 m6 F4 B5 qI 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
4 B2 S0 ]8 O4 M( L' t9 x$ h: G, Lwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
+ g4 X5 }) X- x$ e3 e* N. A; qtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
# p, L6 R9 J$ \+ k1 C5 q6 R'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
" g: ^" r+ l, ^5 @! w6 @the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
. I. S ]" U' Z ?& ^several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
& }& z; [( o* B E8 m$ f2 konto 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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