Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
- \3 m2 N' R, C4 ^4 G$ W5 fthe 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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' {2 O' }3 R$ H! e' A(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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$ z+ N3 Z1 I# a* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
1 v; p3 K) m$ g2 a/ p2 t5 jbeware, 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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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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/ y4 v% }3 E7 t- c! dNagra 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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2 p- N% x2 g( gApparently 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
' }) X7 I0 t1 e8 w6 ?5 Qtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
@3 V }" B- m! Qrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
+ G9 n! r3 ?% D0 YDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
0 n+ l5 @3 _7 ]recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
/ h9 z! a: O& @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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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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
2 X3 q9 w/ c! G1 V# W" {+ 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
8 [0 m& g+ t6 j }'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
' W, m9 j' I8 D n& Vthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
1 u; C" C. D0 ~" v' T+ Kseveral 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
. d: z+ S0 }0 v- _7 W% n+ [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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