Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
1 h U5 A9 m6 @# q" Y! _the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
2 f( }+ v% i( @3 Athe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
6 }- b3 C: J8 A3 ~0 r* c: x3 lmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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+ j' R- g2 @0 ]' H: b7 |) Y% A(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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, n7 u7 K2 q9 \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
) ]$ x. U' ]% H6 |8 x0 ibeware, 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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) R# t( {. P5 [2 S- O, `" r, ONagra 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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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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- P1 W2 S! R) j2 ~, }+ L) d rApparently 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
+ ~0 v; a. Z6 @) [3 \$ s- [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
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DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
9 F+ [& s3 k* p. yrecorders. 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
; ^! k3 Z, y3 C( |! Q& o, Eelectronics 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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+ b% }2 [& E7 Z) mTape 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
! U" O# c2 G# G: Kthe 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
3 N! Y5 U% x; Z0 stape 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
" Z6 U _: [! R8 B+ P; B# Nthe 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
" K2 {7 ?& F+ j/ O& \onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
2 S3 \0 z0 M6 N' Ythings 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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