Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
I7 X! f0 @( P! vthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
+ S+ Y3 ~2 K4 H5 ]the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
: G$ s6 i+ c) u% O. E- P/ H) _% s0 tmachines, 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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( _" [ h9 }. e6 }- KClick on either of the above images for more information.
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; G' ^) k9 d" \* 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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% P- ]9 ~" V L, v7 u/ C+ PNagra 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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9 u: r0 ~. r% s+ h$ Y( @Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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) I2 D i& }3 u2 w; m# \/ S3 w) bNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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N9 D9 O% ^: p, }: lApparently 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
$ u, M# B: E8 F3 V% `3 qtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
, a. t' R; {3 t+ E1 l, C, d8 k* x3 U* ^4 Erecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
2 i% s8 K8 h A5 F9 Q/ F0 @# RDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
$ e2 a% ]5 k9 U* @. a3 K' crecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
/ }# Q" _6 |, [. F# p/ c9 n7 D$ ztruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
' i5 }9 _4 c+ J+ c7 R5 cbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
% n5 q4 }. k* a+ e2 o9 zelectronics and be very expensive.
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2 q& ?' q2 \! j- ], h( wCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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- m9 I) N) b$ C; W$ iTape for the Nagra SN
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2 H0 L+ u \! q9 @I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
, g! U/ K, g7 c- v/ ~the 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
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tape 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
, }( @3 t8 |. }the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
2 G$ Y) k7 s& ]) s$ yseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
) N1 C- L$ [ y- _2 {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
3 w) |) N( y" L$ O5 aVERY silly money.
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