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
* o, L8 a( b; M% I5 m# J2 |7 wthe 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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/ ^9 {; u" u2 n; o6 v(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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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
' i. z2 Z( e" u1 fbeware, 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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# h, N5 k, {: A1 d# S6 s% q" cNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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! j. H3 A$ ~- f2 c |# rNagra 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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; f6 i5 \5 R; n5 E$ m, ANagra 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
5 l$ m' D6 O( lhave 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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DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
4 r, ]* n" P- r8 Vrecorders. 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
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be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
5 d( c$ w$ E& X& x: ?6 |( yelectronics 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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+ N! e; I: t; t6 o0 [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
. V4 e# f/ \2 rthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
4 d# i, S6 M0 Y! awanted 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
( G6 o P5 _0 a$ q# o& bthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
% y( u" ]5 I" ~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
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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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