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
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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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9 ?. j4 X2 G* b2 r, e7 m. P(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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( z2 ?$ [8 Q1 ?" H* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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There are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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1 i. J) I8 ?" t: ^+ j% GNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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8 U( x: |7 K) \2 [% B4 I' uNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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\% U6 l% L% D' f1 R' l/ `; CNagra 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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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
' @1 \5 y% Y- \6 r% Dtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
0 j8 W- t$ k1 m: R& E- E, W$ Mrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
- _# ]: z$ v9 T/ C6 }* { gDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
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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
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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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) T- u) j! c( V2 w- b1 nCheaper 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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6 O& O! Z: V, C1 [( @. XI 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
$ q. C4 V+ }, |7 [. R0 Pwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
* l% U& d5 @8 {, `3 ^# vtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
7 W4 s7 C' E- s7 c'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
6 w0 b }0 w6 h( `6 P' Rthe 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
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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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