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
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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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7 _: b0 U- d2 }* h9 G(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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) M" i u# v$ g; VClick on either of the above images for more information.
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8 ~+ P! C+ E4 |$ t* 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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3 R; v& o+ |3 X& Z9 ^ i* SNagra 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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: ]: Q4 Q( x5 @ Z( o3 u% INagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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" |7 S$ ~2 n( V1 l$ N+ YNagra 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
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
% Q# v! n, m0 K: itherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
$ Z+ |+ d" g* t( z) Trecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
5 v% ^% T* h& iDSP) 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
# ^& o& A* q% B4 ~! pbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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electronics 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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8 h k" L% i3 Z& o2 \! c7 `Tape 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
U: E1 ~- e; L% w& b3 `) ithe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
! M& v; F+ _$ ^8 q2 y) `wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
1 k. ]2 J! }1 t; i9 Rtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
! A; A% g9 z/ R2 y'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
' f" A# }8 I7 @8 _% `the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
9 ~- _; S B2 ~- N" Q( U E9 Sseveral 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
) o- H% z8 M" dthings 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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