Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
' d4 j7 L8 h6 h1 |8 v* 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
8 Y* {% Q& ]: `* k. n: x* d$ qmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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' Z( ~+ i* y1 G1 |, ]+ }(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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! ?8 R' E- {. |! q0 i# ^! E* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
! h$ u6 ^+ m. n( k6 fbeware, 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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2 A: D. k2 i* D: \) ^2 T+ r$ S9 pNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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' W9 _; R8 k/ Q0 A7 FNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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- ?: T9 O* L5 A/ y8 \1 }& {2 _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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& G# n- R: S) s/ J7 |Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
' U) `8 p8 V6 c( r: ihave 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
0 A. ^/ A# L/ M& k- Z$ e/ x' `; Nrecording 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
P7 F& l6 [- C8 @# b) Nrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
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truly 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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electronics and be very expensive.
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4 \* [) O5 k1 V$ a+ pCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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' k* X: j+ U; c6 bTape for the Nagra SN
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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
3 N& ]6 ?2 L5 Q5 {the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
8 ] o; y2 x3 r3 `" jwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
: ?& M( h! }3 d9 Q* Vtape 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
1 s6 |, Q) X% Wthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
- {0 u7 ]1 l/ _' Hseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
2 ^+ }$ b( X8 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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