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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+ j4 f( ?. _: f! S% d(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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- C+ S9 z' m4 C! r+ c: xClick on either of the above images for more information.
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* w: Z* b5 F1 d2 U1 L7 E. A/ D* 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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5 u# k. k @ {- i4 F+ WNagra 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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/ U- S5 r: ^1 |9 a: ^Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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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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4 _& f, ]6 c6 l' l% |- K h: {% `, lApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
* ~+ [/ W0 z uhave 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
) P F6 J q+ Q. ~3 D+ Crecording 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
, {8 e7 k3 r6 F* o% w! A. Nrecorders. 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
9 K! C* @; y# @3 K1 o" P9 Z. zelectronics 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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; C5 \( F% A: K- |1 ]( F" ?Tape for the Nagra SN
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0 Z5 a, C& J, m k; J) _I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
! b5 }6 I0 w1 `5 x7 Y3 M8 Z4 ?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
/ x7 [1 o! ?1 S1 g7 m' htape 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
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
' v6 ~) W" m, D% |2 u$ U) Iseveral 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
6 U, V% d' g. k% G0 D2 D& Ithings 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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