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
5 K! }) q( T2 vthe 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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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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$ D; u, z9 i* _# YClick on either of the above images for more information.
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# s) C2 k* t% }* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
# A4 s8 ^6 ^) Q8 J6 o! v- \) q$ k2 m# Z! bbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
* V j: j8 V/ c* q9 O ?1 V; IThere 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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5 l& k1 ]) U, J% [5 p4 wNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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, g9 e5 @$ X% [- Q* RNagra 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
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have some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
- y5 c& u5 G1 i. b: Jtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
2 @5 E8 m% R5 x$ ?1 d; lrecording 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
. F1 r% P0 L2 ~recorders. 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
7 ?1 N4 b/ X- _5 n) D8 Wbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
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Cheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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8 e# X! F- C8 ~' g6 h/ kTape 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
+ h- F" ] u: \9 l6 o/ [the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
" o1 P) ~0 H- W# c( Kwanted 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
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'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
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the 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
0 U* Q- F B( C0 |4 [7 Nonto 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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VERY silly money.
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