Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
8 d# v8 [0 E' M% @& mthe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
; `. g5 n# f0 @0 q' bthe 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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' G+ E- J, _: F- a3 n' i6 r1 E0 h(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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5 R2 |. u; r2 D5 `9 HClick on either of the above images for more information.
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- j" V% N: W9 p. ?8 U* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
+ [. g$ l7 J9 H# p6 obeware, 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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: [8 L, U% I+ y- a) v0 B6 q0 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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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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3 m5 z n6 \, B& r4 u3 V# PNagra 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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* h# l: v+ A# B) |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
8 F G5 K! |9 l& n4 V Yrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
5 }6 O G1 }8 `; S3 J5 ADSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
2 s* p1 p( N! [. J8 H$ hrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
4 u3 T9 k. B& U4 Y$ @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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0 |" ~! [& O2 _, @# W5 r2 kTape for the Nagra SN
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6 _% j, c# `: ~7 Y! u/ ?) mI 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
% k0 q* o3 s# q, W! R% m2 F, mwanted 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
7 f6 n: S1 j. t$ H; L" G C4 n'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
7 |3 P9 @; O4 F" j2 ?the 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
9 W' g1 Z) S# X2 tonto 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
6 @% q% d: o3 x* KVERY silly money.
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