Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
1 R( A0 q( L1 t3 g" i' K% qthe 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
3 m+ B# Z; p( Q. T H( Cmachines, 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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; g2 G, _& Z: c! z8 f2 VClick on either of the above images for more information.
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) l; D, W2 v W. b% M# [* 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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8 I7 M: @$ L8 z' z# 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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+ O: M6 _) Z8 m2 i4 y S+ _8 Y1 \Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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; e# W" I4 t3 KNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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2 ]4 @6 U {' i9 |Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
: C, F* @/ O- g$ C& Xhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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therefore be
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
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electronics and be very expensive.
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. K% p: H5 f. J0 [& ~Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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0 h) v x0 r3 H M8 j! BTape for the Nagra SN
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% K0 B9 |' o3 z! G* u9 fI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
5 s8 F$ q$ Z; 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
3 X) M, [' \. ` Etape 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
! a, [ L1 B; h" N' g k4 dthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
- H, k% B# p0 |: a0 G3 w- c9 Aseveral 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
5 E' {- ~4 ?, |things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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