Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
, x" ?: U+ T4 N- bthe 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
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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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& n1 x! k) g [3 @; O2 w; S1 FClick 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
6 Y9 U N, S+ Q9 q+ R0 M I5 `8 Lbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
; R+ T) Q. n* M& C% J0 u8 F2 C6 S1 vThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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9 [- F; E7 q. |8 X4 JNagra 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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! c I& n: T2 N$ ?/ f' U# {7 s) n5 Q1 }( ~Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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: d- j+ f* P' e. DNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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! V- v, z, M% T" W5 PApparently 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
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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
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
- F& c1 O) [9 Celectronics and be very expensive.
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& H U& e4 U @8 V# R* QCheaper 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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/ h ~* V0 J" ~4 P- D' X3 S3 UI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
! L2 `2 p5 W4 ?3 \) a, Nthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
' [ o+ d$ B Dwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
2 F% t$ R6 }( P! g! wtape 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
$ H. {* r* e& Nthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
# E( P& H, ?; i( u% e" Qseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
5 g1 {+ w& E. y1 y/ conto 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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