Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
& Z& ]5 ~# f% Zthe 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
3 x, w/ t; P. k0 v3 H9 ymachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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f: K W8 N# \6 I5 X9 I5 u(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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z" y- H$ `; J" s6 X: }& V: oClick 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
4 B6 F$ \# g& x4 z$ b( Mbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
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There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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; T3 Y! ~4 K$ v6 z0 B8 d5 S0 T( S4 ~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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. w8 V& J9 p+ j5 l% K( h1 cNagra 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 V {# Z7 J. ?3 TApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
) V/ I/ W9 `# O- C3 i/ ehave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
$ U0 ^- B3 D- D$ g5 D" x* I2 {therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
4 X) v( D$ w7 Frecording 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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truly 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
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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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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
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the 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
% h$ X4 E5 q" ~( Stape 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
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
# n4 d/ y7 F4 `9 Lseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
' u- R1 _, r( E H$ g$ X& H$ u" wonto 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
4 M6 l; x1 G. ?7 t5 AVERY silly money.
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