Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
! K6 G2 l7 w @, h: H. z6 b) ethe 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
7 \9 o) T7 h$ Q" E' y$ [/ Cmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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* w* E# {0 O0 p( R% T(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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3 u! ]5 T4 Z o3 k L* 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.
, J+ c! q. B6 K9 X! S2 {There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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! ~. S9 D* Q8 @$ H& q: |6 oNagra 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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# G5 f. Y$ G) p! P; x9 kNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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& e% P* d- E8 CNagra 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
# b0 b& q! A$ S" O4 l% P7 Zhave 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
% ^1 a0 B$ P! I* D) x( _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
: u/ I3 N& t5 B5 J) |. Tbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
: m Z4 q2 J% l$ j5 k0 d& relectronics 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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& l: x3 j$ t+ P1 K% \9 _1 rTape 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
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
* J- d: o) Y; Q/ S8 o/ Gtape 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
5 S* t$ r( t( k7 k/ lseveral 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
" o6 E# n- p$ \& t- f" l# lVERY silly money.
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