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
" g6 x. x7 p( ~! _9 ]the 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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/ M5 j- w* h) T6 l5 o4 s& k(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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9 c" P8 j& @2 a8 EClick 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
& u6 [$ L% Z5 h( Qbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
* A4 l$ T9 I2 M; E. fThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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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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' c x$ r" e1 b3 g% j* G2 hNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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+ a5 X; H" j+ F, n1 hNagra 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
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
3 q+ K! Z% A3 _, ], otherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
; d: q i& j# k$ Wrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
7 B2 U7 `" Q; ~3 x4 s3 }5 {DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
3 o. R9 K% ^2 |' ?recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
8 D1 E6 r) n; E' V; b) utruly 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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; U4 D. W1 S {0 i$ c( V" ^7 Z1 cCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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+ I, ?8 S4 K- fTape for the Nagra SN
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, L/ c) n7 W# ]4 i7 NI 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
( |* Z" S5 }: z5 E7 g7 Vwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
7 G$ o5 R) n1 y* q+ etape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
6 }1 q$ \6 i& c, c) p* v& \- U'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
- U" t. q) b h- K9 Ithe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
/ J& w6 D& l4 A+ hseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
3 _5 x/ n$ n" X- C3 Z! o Lonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
# `0 {9 F+ ~6 j- X1 Vthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
& m5 |+ ^* f0 _! _* \VERY silly money.
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