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
+ M2 x' C# e; W$ J9 |5 Z7 wmachines, 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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1 H/ D/ m" Y' i: h5 F# b/ ~Click on either of the above images for more information.
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. O2 p/ Y1 B7 X' i* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
, h2 w) p3 \ l4 w1 M7 xbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
t+ n) E: ^$ I6 ~There 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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' |# Q" v4 |+ y4 R( B, R7 SNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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* g! [% I3 i/ ~& ]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
6 R+ F! _9 U [' ^3 m4 g# vhave 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
+ Q. b7 p# [+ `2 GDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
% j$ M! d; h9 C5 |2 Erecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
_9 b5 R2 d/ Ltruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
" G5 x7 B: b% Y9 w$ u. j1 V; Q# _2 cbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
3 F+ E! G; _0 F& `9 ~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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Tape 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
% w9 U8 G3 y1 G3 ]. s& [+ S$ ythe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
' Q) d6 G) O5 Rwanted 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
: X0 g8 K1 D0 U; V7 e4 k'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
/ [# B. g- |5 a/ ?0 K& Bthe 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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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
! c* s4 r" p8 T X+ ]1 Ethings 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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