Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
+ G3 b- N" P# {* H2 B7 u6 T9 ethe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
" u! ^+ T- C5 U0 j4 J8 M: s# ythe 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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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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! K! Z a. T, k. | D# Q* 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.
! _) ?5 v. W* k0 P( K9 bThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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% M6 p# M1 O9 z$ H, ?/ NNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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5 d) C+ I/ F z0 A+ `# ANagra 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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1 X- E& V1 `' O Z9 q6 N) hNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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4 y. i! c! m6 I0 u$ H3 r8 ?( IApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
8 A4 D; _( P( j7 S, M" P; c- [have 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
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DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
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recorders. 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
, Z, z) S( J. S/ \+ l4 Tbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
3 Q1 G2 j+ h( h) n) yelectronics 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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0 F$ r, k% S! \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
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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
% x$ i9 [9 Z8 g3 fthe 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
- ]- f4 R7 B4 n9 o. J4 Q/ _, xonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
. z* G) G8 \8 r3 J7 O, r% n A9 Lthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
8 d& W; r1 o" ^- m* y% FVERY silly money.
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