Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
- V5 u0 v! L* Q, G) S8 G3 n# b3 Zthe 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
! D$ A6 c; {/ k6 bmachines, 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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. `0 s/ Z. K2 M: |; s% QClick on either of the above images for more information.
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3 q& Z. @/ _' `5 w* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
/ v- O4 N% t" e6 tbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
) J9 o& ^4 K: A# q6 h' f1 b1 M4 ?% nThere 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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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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0 o0 ^) R" F* ^4 ^Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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4 R/ A6 b$ J8 v8 |$ iNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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l, H/ S0 g* H: ]5 XApparently 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
1 ?2 Q# @+ i c: l7 N( A* k1 `3 P* hrecording 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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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
8 g- C! P! n0 I0 s; L" R% Pelectronics 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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- J" l. A; m5 g# I: q& l; c: v4 U: zTape for the Nagra SN
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8 a- v: E# U% i- m( B% `I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
5 a/ ?5 x- K# _/ }( `the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
# C* P" }* Q. Z' hwanted 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
3 |9 Y5 l1 i2 i: _* x! [the 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
8 n7 F1 t# K1 d$ M, Lonto 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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