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
4 k1 O7 N4 }$ `' Q0 Q4 J+ `machines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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) w' X4 w7 n) \3 |2 [5 L' d: `# e(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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( r- {0 D, \) Y! H0 ]+ D5 t! UClick on either of the above images for more information.
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1 k; l* E2 z2 B" U. X8 O i( W3 m* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
3 ^. |9 \' B% n2 g/ T9 N. Fbeware, 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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9 F# ]; L3 k$ j/ |$ t) @; FNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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7 }( X' { u7 X: aNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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3 t9 |9 H. T# @Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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( e2 i) Y+ c: r9 D$ H) M( Q9 |/ mNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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9 u0 q/ V% v/ w% B5 AApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
! ]) g7 `* G: Q% h5 uhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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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
m9 ]1 s; {0 I7 ?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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3 L0 l0 |/ n& i+ W9 e5 N, |8 K' fCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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) R9 R) A" j, T; ^5 j+ ^6 STape 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
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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
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'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
+ F2 ?, k* ]/ E& M( N3 m9 O9 \: U! ?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
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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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