Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
4 K$ {7 n3 {$ H1 j7 e5 p- Uthe 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
' i3 I; t3 Y8 Vmachines, 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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. y" S1 X; T1 @; Y2 d: z6 {0 DClick 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
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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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/ |% w! S- ] Y0 A1 N" [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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* R, L# b0 K! x) ]2 f& [8 p. I; oNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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' B' W, ^+ o p" j; F4 K3 C/ \* mNagra 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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Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
. X3 D3 E! [% i2 j' a/ x* b5 ^& Khave 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
! i& ~- V9 r3 W7 ]% u7 l$ 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
" z" ]* e' j3 U7 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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7 S4 g5 j4 @" T: b3 NTape for the Nagra SN
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. G& a, c, p( {* ~9 C" w# CI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
% ]: ~( i7 H* ` i+ n% B& ithe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
, T- V I2 k* ]wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
* K7 _! ?( ~& L9 b! y. n ]tape 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
" g% w2 ]6 v6 r8 }( Kthe 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
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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
, ^ Z$ m: \6 k' E. @# @things 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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