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
7 K( F9 Q0 [0 }* S( k4 @" [the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
4 p2 B+ u# u2 a% x `* ^* V9 \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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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
x! m* U3 N* [2 Ebeware, 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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5 r! m- e. j8 @9 _2 P! i3 J* }1 INagra 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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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
; F3 V5 M; c: ^- _& N! }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
, p4 T. B8 y, a7 U2 ?2 h' F+ f8 Y4 nrecorders. 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
# y# C3 |; G# C* C0 ^be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
4 e9 M3 d2 X" Y" Velectronics and be very expensive.
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$ z) q* R N4 \1 I/ ?Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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* b1 O# j0 |+ ]2 W- P) ZTape for the Nagra SN
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$ F$ ]7 ]2 M& E9 y4 O9 [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
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wanted 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
) A8 L h T1 E# R* B'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
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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
5 ^ X) D3 _6 U: x1 Fthings 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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