Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
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the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
* ?1 p: ?( M4 [; k8 b5 ~2 Wthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
$ f1 d' B4 `/ g* N2 v X8 U& ~machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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/ ~0 U1 Y% m) }9 q# y% J- J(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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: b$ Y' E9 y: i. n- C' GClick on either of the above images for more information.
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5 A) |; ]1 v; q8 o1 [# H* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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1 h0 k$ l E `There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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: R Q) K, H y: d; j+ dNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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/ a8 Q- L5 O( y3 z# hNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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1 A. J; ?4 U; P/ B: [7 O' wNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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; @* N. F( p2 W8 A9 bNagra 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
) W4 e! z1 L) \( |( }( Rhave 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
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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
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the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
' ?) p1 O0 I. L" O6 Q3 ^1 Zbe 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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# W, @/ W5 t7 J3 [5 ]9 CCheaper 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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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
& g1 T6 |2 d" L& r) xthe 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
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
# C* d( x* C$ ^9 k# W; b'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
$ Z( @" y0 S- K+ p) Y) \the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
6 E' Q4 r) }2 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
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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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