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
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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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(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
7 V9 O4 H k8 u; mbeware, 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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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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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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0 u: E4 k0 @# h: W! H* S, ENagra 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
! f ]: b: J; V/ j2 mhave 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
1 a& d4 g, v& L& Brecording 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
5 [# v4 \' O0 Z! 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
9 O3 u( Y* r& H |6 Z3 v, S3 B! k4 wbe 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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Tape for the Nagra SN
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( M4 K7 P: s4 rI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
$ s0 f7 \0 f# B1 ?" Qthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
( l4 d% {: }) K5 Swanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
* P. L" ^: z o! ^- ]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
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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
! e: i+ i* D3 S+ Konto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
: E4 ?% l' k/ h5 B7 Zthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
& J5 _: V2 Q/ M& U2 l* N9 zVERY silly money.
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