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
, Y, R, [/ }( b/ m8 H( {9 wmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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\/ `+ C' i, B* _8 G( K( c$ J(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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9 i& J9 z/ E4 GClick on either of the above images for more information.
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& }+ B( U8 n/ M2 R) g* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' I% U+ e L/ K1 N9 xbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
4 h1 k; A9 {4 Q. R% pThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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$ M* K3 ]! q6 Z7 m/ t' ^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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- T" ^* ]& O0 E5 [4 b% QNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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1 C% s# F% c% L% z! C `9 H1 b1 B0 d9 NNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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% w* N+ Q1 j }/ u4 j. _* w8 FNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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. }9 r4 `# P: C' |) C% M1 AApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
8 } s o8 m: w3 R3 p, O6 k1 Ehave 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
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
3 X n; z: R- q, WDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
P- l7 ]$ m0 A- V+ N! ?recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
1 y x2 u- H: V3 F, i) jtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
c: A2 r% y& [& X( ^/ Tbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
1 I( }3 I3 u @6 U* g6 j9 O5 c- b) Q4 celectronics and be very expensive.
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4 p: k" p+ W1 UCheaper 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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
1 {, ~9 Q7 E# @* Q" `9 J2 ], ^, mwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
2 Y. V& {. D/ u1 f v, b; w9 x" ptape 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
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
: t/ o j; D5 {( }3 B. @( `$ Q( bseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
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onto 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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