Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
5 {" y, p" U8 B/ N( c. zthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
8 Y" m z* o* t$ k) W( Vthe 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 b4 w% A4 s4 H1 g# e/ X+ i5 O(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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3 p# ^4 L) C7 m: @1 QClick on either of the above images for more information.
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6 I+ q9 [! {9 b* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
2 A0 G3 h$ i, S4 obeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
" a' _$ D+ @' z8 U+ oThere 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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: [* H5 v8 d5 A9 YNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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( c$ I! o: l7 y9 K$ L0 A- tNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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. a9 c* ~) y" j& J9 oApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
% E6 q- t" ~$ Q9 ?2 Qrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
7 L0 X% R* I7 [- h" EDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
" a3 Q& A7 q1 r4 L( ]0 Z# _recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
F; W' a! }! [7 e1 |8 @6 m2 Otruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
4 [3 i1 Y4 D3 ?7 A' {: j! |be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
- s3 S" }" u4 Y( w8 c8 b- Jelectronics and be very expensive.
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# z. m0 s4 i' |- r+ kCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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1 k/ t/ D( Z/ `) tTape for the Nagra SN
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- ?6 e5 b5 j F$ j" a0 u9 DI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
, o3 E/ w+ b8 vthe 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
& K9 _$ e0 n) S$ W0 ctape 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
5 R3 b3 l) d" |5 z, [the 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
- _2 ?: ?0 ^% a; i" t# i' _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
" v2 i& y0 y$ u. {+ U- eVERY silly money.
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