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
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the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
& L) [ B2 S8 v1 w7 P Z# {machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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7 }8 d$ n! W2 T* {/ p(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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6 Q6 S- X& [* s( F# m* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
: n- i4 z; Q+ n) C# j7 w% Hbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
* h/ V) i8 T( m. VThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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$ N+ c( p; L. n8 |; w( ^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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/ B3 B9 k! x, p+ s9 f! oNagra 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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4 k' P( n* b: c" P, l" VApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
6 T6 D o# n1 ^. l5 Y9 v- dhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
4 G7 ]: K6 b4 vtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
2 p4 h4 I) Y, `# o" [0 \% c1 ~recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
3 F3 Y# O& f% J" m. |: H! [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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2 }# i9 [! e) ]% p- _2 U) g/ cTape for the Nagra SN
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! Q1 d! C5 r3 R$ x5 s, pI 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
P i( F/ a4 O! _# Owanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
( [9 `3 Y" H. ?$ q- r1 n0 r7 Dtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
Q1 X4 w. n |% J) q'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
- O2 c# a1 y& D* `3 o3 dthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
. v( {7 q0 V' B! c1 ]% hseveral 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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