Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
* k* ]. F% F' F( |/ vthe 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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(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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# J/ c4 B' @. d9 D* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
, [4 Y- P2 k& L: b8 \- k+ v& ^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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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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: u4 \* j) j* ^, w- _4 _Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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2 r, G' t; G. q, [- Q* a3 w1 GNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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0 X8 }& g" H8 a0 ]6 J3 u. NApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
7 a9 y- S# v/ n2 Y1 \have 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
) Q, \* S( o* i/ R" [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
* n4 v" f; j/ y( `7 V1 Gbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
# c* ~" p! p/ [; Y/ ^! G! p, {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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2 q( ^6 z+ m: e/ J( NTape 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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
2 _- q4 Z ^ M8 r Z% ]wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
( f; I/ k, ?* O' Rtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
- X' a% W' A7 [* l) G- F'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
0 I. U! H" \2 W$ A; q. Z3 ]- Uthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
2 I3 \6 @; }7 |8 vseveral 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
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things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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