Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
( T3 L3 l% }# P' X4 k5 G/ ithe 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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: r. c& {$ {! n2 H+ x, ~+ c(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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" _' y, n' R5 HClick on either of the above images for more information.
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* b; B; L. Q7 y7 L3 m8 x5 q! e( F* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
) w5 Z2 r, A8 X( {beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
' {( a, I H' R8 b' dThere 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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- O% H6 C/ [1 f* V! c6 Z& i$ WNagra 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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. [9 ]) w9 k2 g# v/ ?7 S3 pApparently 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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optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
; Z5 }3 H4 V0 v% L0 Z& Trecording 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
6 q) O- d; p/ s0 e! T" Urecorders. 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
1 T5 q- N: \4 J( s' ~' B+ o( v: dbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
! s7 x4 Y; }2 n# J7 n' Oelectronics 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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) ~. [! [( ~* k4 f1 |$ CTape for the Nagra SN
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' g/ h2 W3 D8 m$ yI 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
. G( e5 X6 _% h+ M% P" qwanted 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
# f/ O* I i" P6 V! Y! E7 Z'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
5 c, A6 i9 S& l0 dthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
0 W& T- t/ p/ c/ v0 P; c9 Tseveral 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
4 G1 u G/ g2 P& `- othings 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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