Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
0 x- k/ h+ C7 {5 b6 G/ _* B3 F4 qthe 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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7 h9 T. ~) s" \/ m; A. @# l$ L( h(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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0 e7 f. q% r6 RClick 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
* m6 F2 U7 P0 f) Qbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
1 B% M) z e6 A# E4 }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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0 {$ r% m/ l& N9 }9 `. yNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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Nagra 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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- s2 O8 ~2 H. Q9 t) x2 i VApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
* n7 Q6 L2 Z5 q8 D( r2 d: [have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
" O: J$ V) ?- v4 u3 N! gtherefore 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
8 ^; F! c$ d( K' \' l- B8 SDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
) X; w4 @% i' v" G. f8 Irecorders. 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
+ _; B r9 A# L' }be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
0 X6 g& P# M1 m3 O7 T0 K3 v/ Q) Eelectronics 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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( |0 M' _& ]/ n: [I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
4 v ^! t) S, ~; Z9 r0 lthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
; d0 C, V4 Q0 c4 S, Zwanted 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
1 x0 Z! K- x& }( x. T9 L$ a'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
- T; j; G) Q o2 p; R+ ]the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
7 S/ [3 \& y, \6 kseveral 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
9 I+ k* g; ]/ M; H X. ?/ J: a8 Hthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
" d( q1 R; Z: IVERY silly money.
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