Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
% z* \( X0 v& y' O/ Gthe 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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1 D+ ^7 Z% T( c3 D: [0 o(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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1 x9 P4 y; e2 B$ W# Q( D* 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.
1 G, w g% M3 AThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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- B: `( a. w* _+ d$ X! Q7 ANagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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- s% A0 E! b- m! c8 B# [Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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/ n: a; d& h: p8 _& ~* ^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
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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
/ m" R N' K2 W' p0 orecording 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 ~% j8 c. w- I; L3 O$ mrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
' {8 T, t3 t N9 z7 \# Etruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
8 I* ]* o' |% ]5 i& ^be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
" G$ T* R, h+ v5 j4 I8 Aelectronics and be very expensive.
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3 r: V1 c6 O' K# k7 s: S- C( fCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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0 T7 G1 y6 `1 U0 w- FTape for the Nagra SN
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+ l7 t( ?* K' x9 m! [. X/ cI 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
0 Z( L. @2 i* A; vtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
6 T3 p4 \9 z0 \4 m _+ s4 m4 ?'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
2 ~; Z( p/ s; h i' v5 _# Fseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
/ o% o; O4 a0 W, N. c9 v* L+ N/ }onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
8 t$ y; j, r! Q1 A, {; T; Pthings 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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