Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
* D% M$ N. j- V) Wthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
" A+ `# K; n7 k, s6 g- mthe 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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0 H& \! A& c7 E0 H+ r! pClick 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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" s0 k1 L) C* u( O/ U) O1 e3 SNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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$ {8 u; G! I* W4 _- m! sNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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d( m: S; d. O t: H/ f6 c8 |5 `Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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9 X3 I: A. R- ]" N( J& _# C! iNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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5 @. T# g) a! H0 WApparently 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
: [8 P& b) D: p$ `! r- _therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
+ R. y1 m) i% M# U6 ]; C' Nrecording 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
# B' M+ ? J$ m' |# b: x( jrecorders. 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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# J0 X- }4 L2 q. E. X; HCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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7 Y# u+ X! `/ B* {0 J: W' E' FTape 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
! L! N- X2 Y; b4 u; T/ mthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
8 v% `6 l+ `' Kwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
6 B( X! P5 M1 K! l. btape 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
' t) {! X! a1 u( u0 Bthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
6 R# D# Z) [2 Nseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
. Z$ z, c6 Y6 b9 j* t9 l7 Wonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
I2 J1 W& | Y. w! Ithings 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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