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
" u% ]! u5 l. rthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
2 _5 b% c. H! v8 y/ Rmachines, 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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: u) T+ ^* g" E1 ~1 F) T6 fClick on either of the above images for more information.
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- Q0 `; X( z& k I/ q* }! s% P* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
. y, }2 x: H: \' A* v; W) S1 Xbeware, 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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4 H3 O) i, o+ \5 `8 V" WNagra 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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& q* U) X3 S6 k( FNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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+ a- c! [# Z/ i: I7 J; iNagra 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
4 A* y2 U! @7 d; F' Fhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
p3 U$ N2 a" X* }) Y g# ytherefore 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
+ \0 p4 J; i: r6 {' K EDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
: K2 o! b b0 N) k$ Wrecorders. 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
# D7 e6 B1 r* V: L5 N, M' c3 zbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
+ U& G V1 \" b$ i* ?8 ]% _6 O# [8 s$ Delectronics 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
6 M$ ` F% z# h: F# d G1 ^the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
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wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
; A( ^, \, S* gtape 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
9 R% h) c& {, Y4 H5 Eseveral 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
+ R+ ^+ W! _ p- H; ?things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
1 A e9 ^0 g1 J( P+ ~* O7 T4 y2 sVERY silly money.
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