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
" C2 d' a7 n. y$ V( l: xthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
0 g# |% P/ K5 k6 T) u2 J9 t7 Q1 Tmachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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3 Z4 P0 k& i( {(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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1 W- ?7 m2 Y/ j2 qClick on either of the above images for more information.
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% k: J( w$ }- O9 m! D& D5 {- ?* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
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beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
, u9 S: H" u& B* TThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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3 o5 O3 O8 U- G8 h9 }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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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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+ c( p7 }: Z2 x5 L; u6 Z7 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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; m6 Z6 z: k |( x5 vApparently 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
3 { s4 p( r( L( D$ ?9 t% Q8 stherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
/ E9 }# J% l! P$ Z, {" k; |recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
+ a5 o$ S# X( Z8 K4 KDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
: s [# R+ ], Wrecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
+ V1 z2 C0 [9 W- J+ d+ jtruly 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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1 i( l" V. C; E* y7 `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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, N- y* U7 u+ G1 lI 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
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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
# Z" {$ q; T( r X3 x3 O; [. y'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
) N* i, H8 T) b- t u/ ~) h2 q pthe 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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onto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
5 _2 T+ H | C5 A7 M% Q* G- tthings 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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