Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
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the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
- {5 t$ n4 f4 e1 P: z0 g4 g$ w6 Bthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
7 c; u0 |$ W6 q# Omachines, 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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$ a( c! [" s$ a: \* 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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Nagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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, `- s- V5 k& `Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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7 X1 v: ^- s. G' U8 j7 C( gNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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; Z0 v/ c( j0 f: T$ VNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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' M+ n, ]! U% f/ A; {& WApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
$ v( S8 F3 q+ {2 W; ^have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
3 j- I1 G0 T) w* etherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
9 Y7 ]3 d- L/ i/ {' w7 ]recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
/ j/ ]4 y5 g' V/ dDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
" Y) h0 Y' @" i( {9 x7 orecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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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
* n( t* y7 g( J8 F! j% F3 Kelectronics 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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. a6 `# ?! v. E% ]6 G* c8 gTape 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
p7 f, M2 D. l/ {# L5 V, V0 {! ztape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
/ b+ h; A* ]) f'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 @: n7 N2 x- W$ E4 ]several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
, W0 T! y7 ?. M9 D1 S0 aonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
' p& S. [+ T0 K5 Othings 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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