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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0 z, [, d4 q1 [! U(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
1 f8 _) I4 @1 h$ ^5 v; `/ k; m$ Tbeware, 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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$ z% b5 r! \3 F0 H5 j" n7 tNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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( w8 P8 g( C! W6 tNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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0 ]4 K) ~7 }3 w% U. TNagra 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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, E- {6 m: m& L% E$ _Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
/ Z6 j3 x* Y' S' W( @7 y" Shave 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
! z) R$ Y6 p A5 k& @recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
' K1 q6 r( i/ q. ^$ bDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
' u0 z! g q& G% l( R3 `: vrecorders. 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
5 Y. \, i. a5 M* m) d C obe 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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+ l) r i( ]4 OTape for the Nagra SN
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7 [2 l0 T @7 I" E. O& ~I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
4 [# |& N" ~8 ~0 K& kthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
0 l! Z" @, a; r* n7 V% H. Q2 ~4 jwanted 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
- N$ }8 S( F6 d" y6 F'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
4 H' N3 j5 d# i' g8 Gthe 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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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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