Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
% u2 h* j, k0 x$ F8 t. n. s; _$ l; kthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
& M) z% z% _' d& p: d& Q' @+ }7 othe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
1 v2 J( U" O; w2 r% Imachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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3 l; @3 r) B+ Y2 `+ n(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
" c" w8 n- d0 N8 p- K0 Abeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
, V0 Z' {) I5 M: JThere 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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! p1 C; }# C0 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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) _& s' v+ `) S$ \& _3 b7 G* @* }' {Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
2 k8 D: J! y3 k5 q& l/ V% Uhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
; z( B9 K9 c& a& J0 I# h6 c& ~$ utherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
7 w0 R7 F$ F! T6 ~4 Trecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
6 L2 }* s- `/ r- ODSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
. }5 G+ I. f; K( G3 n9 yrecorders. 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
6 I9 E/ Q& Y( n# W; Y+ Sbe 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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- y# d! e% {/ Z JCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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0 S7 i. g. s) x; e+ E1 G5 Z, DTape for the Nagra SN
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. B6 s9 \. T6 c7 H2 @3 X2 aI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
& W) p" b5 H% c% c' Q/ m$ }the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
. C% y' z' k/ t" twanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
: u w2 Y2 b7 }tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
+ p' ?4 o8 t; S& S( _'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
+ T+ G( d" p7 Y# Z: B" a' O. d/ D% v+ Z0 @the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
7 B2 W6 Z3 i' N8 zseveral 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
. o2 E7 C! A/ @4 nthings 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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