Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
9 P+ [% K* g7 ~1 R. n! R: K1 m0 x3 p. Tthe 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
) @$ H: b8 K* w6 q! p( L( Gmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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! A' O: b* g: u$ M9 u+ A; O! W(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
/ H4 p2 m y6 [# e. ~# D E7 k: d: gbeware, 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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3 c# z! t- S7 E$ ~# aNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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- |5 K, Y- [* |; INagra 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
5 q" d# x/ m/ K. Yhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
7 }5 s3 J3 l$ s1 ^3 T% W! `5 ltherefore 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
0 j, C+ N9 N8 k" i3 [ y$ J( }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
' {3 y5 `" B: I! R2 l" x Gelectronics and be very expensive.
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3 x; d I& m+ z/ M1 K9 T( b/ VCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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5 Q8 T7 ~, E- ]2 k% K9 `' OTape 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
5 G# K5 q! ~% x# @4 ~! ?3 jwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
! G4 a2 d2 p. w. c'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
& \/ i2 k V6 X* athe 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
0 ~! C3 y, s; fonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
. M. _7 { J' J3 mthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
# E# `2 M( }+ K3 s( D1 W0 O( R" sVERY silly money.
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