Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
; f* n* o1 z* _* ] Xthe 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
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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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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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9 l% K" v- g3 JClick on either of the above images for more information.
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& Y# ` W& s' M' S2 A c$ F* 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.
4 E$ m+ H( w6 h' t1 R- h0 nThere 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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A) p% S. R5 F/ RNagra 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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- L* C3 Z8 w7 b- K! e2 zNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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5 y* g+ C- p- t9 x/ x# h& RApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
( v# q8 y' q j- Xhave 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 i& ?+ ~- P2 ^2 Jrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
/ m8 j7 t& Y1 m2 `9 Ktruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
7 k$ M$ w5 y4 Sbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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5 L: }5 R. c C. qCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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/ t6 W# c6 d- W8 V/ \Tape for the Nagra SN
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: O; m& V7 p, f4 w1 M. `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
; W7 h: Q# T& O' g8 f! A8 Fwanted 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
3 e' J+ @( J- L7 ~0 M'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
8 T$ S8 b% p! e$ x1 A aseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
: q1 H% k. y v0 r0 i0 xonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
1 x$ r6 b! x. V2 Ethings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
& j$ _) d4 L' s( e2 U- O; _VERY silly money.
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