Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
. n0 A# y9 a' k8 bthe 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
0 B! E! l3 Q5 K; ^machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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, ` h2 I; i, G1 I6 v% D& k* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
9 W, h6 _# p/ OThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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]) M( E2 \, m4 R! r% Q HNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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! Z+ [% K+ w' t# z0 M4 m3 ~9 KNagra 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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. d: v' r- l1 r6 n7 [4 QNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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2 f0 m) ]- u* U8 K$ SApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
/ a/ X+ P: o- n! 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
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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
7 ?9 | }& \( ~& Arecorders. 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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- M$ X8 x# v$ r/ Z7 r6 fTape for the Nagra SN
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: B- J4 P/ E( S& rI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
- i! k7 U+ w+ [the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
6 M5 b0 _$ m8 w2 f4 l0 mwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
3 N% m! n @. l+ a9 M4 x( utape 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
7 f4 B+ r9 U! q2 H- ~! ~4 k( Sthe 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
# H Y0 \1 D) @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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