Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
7 p. q @1 {6 Z% f) \. T2 _the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
+ S9 P/ f/ ^9 N2 d* Nthe 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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(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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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
1 w, d; {# T* f `3 Ubeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
; g V$ C9 ^, HThere 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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8 f" k! B! P, @* s* Z9 i( M- ENagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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% [7 F7 a% e, R7 j( t. i0 p; }Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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, @' \5 O" A* |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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( q, @1 h: \. D t4 s5 {Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
% q$ l: n& P+ a% e- d+ S2 \have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
7 P, a1 B: m/ l( Btherefore 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
1 t/ D; @# k: o9 k) e* Z2 ]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
# ~" Q1 A R0 }$ ?: D0 e1 h* |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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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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Tape for the Nagra SN
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+ B# S% @8 o) h, H) f2 oI 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
/ m+ z, ^! j$ X' c2 K i& r5 Swanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
/ |" ~" o4 T- u8 m, _: k& Ptape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
0 |4 \+ N1 X# J% O'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
q4 }6 j' L8 W6 F; Qthe 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
9 q6 N( z/ D& w# ~onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
1 h1 X& X; |' N' w2 z0 v6 q6 fthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
& ^0 Y3 M' {2 p# p2 VVERY silly money.
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