Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
1 \9 b+ V* F# l* A+ \+ vthe 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
& [- u& l8 a0 _8 Smachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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$ o3 O4 Y: E+ ]3 s" A: _(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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* 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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+ A% d* E4 C% F' n; a5 iNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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, p; I, T! K' V9 i( y# iNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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0 t7 k3 G/ q/ Q' e/ K2 P+ BNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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9 p [" n Y F2 Q. E" h4 F! @Nagra 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
/ a/ x" y" @7 T T: J* Ohave 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
& V( l N* M8 drecording 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
) c$ e4 ^2 A' I% g% f4 Lrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
8 o: n- q) @/ a. P/ rtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
* |* |8 d( Q6 U+ p9 n* ~be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
2 I# v6 q1 [" i: Q) \% Telectronics and be very expensive.
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( _0 p/ F5 s4 y) _9 Q$ L" YCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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/ b+ S( `' ~) {) S+ JTape for the Nagra SN
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# C8 W4 b. U+ g) C+ i' aI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
; `4 q* T" e- p3 l' a6 H" Bthe 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
( t1 Q7 ]/ h/ [6 h2 h( J9 Ptape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
9 _$ Y) V6 f: P* l2 s6 y'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
& K, r+ n$ v0 f" U" N: Aseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
& @0 Q% b- t0 ~" Wonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
. q& h, Z; u; G7 ~" l2 R; fthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
9 ~3 E `, d3 L8 VVERY silly money.
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