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
. w4 _ Z8 {+ [7 Jmachines, 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
, H4 d5 [6 l$ z' G! rbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
2 j$ j/ k. Y( e1 zThere 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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. F+ h# P( t2 f/ J2 m6 GNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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" l) Q0 \: ]7 K1 ]3 NNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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( L7 v4 P& o/ u2 d2 b5 sNagra 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
0 v% [. d; C$ p0 r B9 @9 whave 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
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
+ w/ \4 [) ]+ [+ _1 R4 aDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
2 D0 x1 K2 x4 t; g, y1 Srecorders. 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
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
( }9 x: y, z8 ^0 U' i5 Xelectronics 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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5 ]. u" J. a! h' }' W2 t9 S1 jI 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
& ?' j$ k3 K2 T& Qtape 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
" S9 E7 L/ K' ^. m" M/ x/ j' w# Lthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
2 y- J* s$ Y. g# ?several pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
, T+ Q1 [ u# h5 B( ^+ v% s9 tonto 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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