Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
8 i+ J" w' K5 P; o2 L# Zthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
. w# o( [( s2 z& Z8 S9 M, I& V* _the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
, \' D. Y+ m9 Q# k2 ^, s; r* ]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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. V; w: W. f9 q: d* [: `3 g9 k( oClick on either of the above images for more information.
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. _) q* Z9 y R9 X/ v" C* 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.
, m% `" n) H# _3 xThere 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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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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6 v* N3 \& w/ T% KNagra 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 G# c2 Z/ l O6 ]$ [Apparently 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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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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truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
& \7 Q. H! y5 |' pbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
6 }5 S) U1 Y* T2 O( _. Belectronics 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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0 A& ?% C/ h9 m1 TTape 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
$ ~3 F8 g+ \ zthe 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
/ Z& _- V( H" }+ P- N% Btape 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
( s, n3 F# l0 r: J8 W! Zthe 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
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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
4 J# e0 G2 [+ g2 _things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
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