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
8 \1 [9 y' X9 ?1 G( T$ i5 t3 |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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$ b4 u4 [" n+ r+ E8 _2 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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' f: I$ h+ I# y) y& k$ ~: ^* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
! z' o& Q. B \1 F+ abeware, 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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5 A8 f5 `5 e# nNagra 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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Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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9 ^# I* S( ~( }* F" }" ^2 dNagra 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
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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
1 c R* k- n5 eDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
1 f0 h- X! j8 b0 l2 K, trecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
8 W; k8 Y3 l9 v- M. @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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. e4 }4 p" k- l7 I: @7 e; GI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
9 a) j9 Y) ?$ f: M" fthe 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
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
( i, U. s* k) C2 L: s'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
' t% k; Z5 y' 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
# d4 t+ d& F6 {, F u6 sonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
( t2 I+ H. }5 @! k$ t* gthings 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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