Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
$ ` P$ M6 y$ c9 @the 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
# k: G- j+ |* G) N7 smachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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) k. h9 x. ^! q$ _- E! h(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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b" ]/ Z9 \0 y5 sClick on either of the above images for more information.
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% y/ E5 n* r* _3 `% F- U7 z* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
" j0 ~$ R$ }5 D9 K$ dbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
0 p% a8 ?9 _& L, F5 oThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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# s: D$ W8 `2 [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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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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& \6 u6 ?; i2 C) L6 F% YApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
3 F8 D) O8 m9 a9 }1 hhave 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
* f9 Q; b& X# L& Q' n% t. |$ Trecording 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
! K' W( |$ K8 {# [; ttruly 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
% K5 R+ j+ P! d: E. D9 @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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Tape for the Nagra SN
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- ~2 U3 I! b9 O7 D" ?0 Z8 o, N" oI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
6 u5 g- n: Z# W! Q$ Lthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
2 R3 ]" M5 v' \; E( S+ ltape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
% N, d5 g7 g, Z/ X" I'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
, N+ \2 }$ _4 N3 H) D( oseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
+ { n, |& C6 @ |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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VERY silly money.
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