Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
3 ?! k6 \8 x2 ^7 z) J$ e' J1 othe various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
" Z/ P) W3 e' i8 b, T7 ]% ]the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
7 k+ c I9 Z- D: f% T* I0 ?9 imachines, 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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* 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.
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There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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6 c7 D4 l' f1 J+ y8 R, G" p+ MNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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6 k$ R- @, x7 M( Q4 W) fNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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7 M0 b! a( Q$ e9 Y3 \Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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) O- C( p/ w: t! G+ \) `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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Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
9 @+ K; o9 _+ d5 j/ f9 A9 f Ohave 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
+ k F: r& B0 i% m: \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
! V( w( K: y) g. M, v/ atruly 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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, A5 o% T% a; c# G0 _, ICheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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, H/ U; g! B9 _+ V1 WTape for the Nagra SN
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5 |( m i0 l7 p% _( }1 w1 U; a8 `I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
4 A, R, g/ P! P$ q( m1 Z" H9 _; a+ Pthe 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
$ g* I& }& f( t2 ~* Jtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
, v' ^3 ?% a' H'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
4 _8 D' P s& e; r% rthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
* V9 O. s# Z$ L4 vseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
/ M. K+ B6 Z, d1 ]1 yonto 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
$ {1 m$ e4 a" B- ]5 o; {; r, qVERY silly money.
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