Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
, c {2 @2 U3 ]5 s. ^2 W; N" [' kthe 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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, ^6 q/ _! y: h% R7 b" _4 K/ N(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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6 _- i: w, G# H4 D* A h2 yClick on either of the above images for more information.
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* b4 K" \. C& |0 l# ~2 M v/ k9 ]* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
2 U. o4 G4 \7 v5 H/ dbeware, 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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: F$ q' H t# Q6 b* t4 a( r& wNagra 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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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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' q3 I* [2 O! x8 w* mApparently 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
" |! ]1 W5 k% d( g+ Lrecording 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
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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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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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% g$ d) h' h1 \# P2 tI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
" P5 P6 U" F: v* C9 A& Y9 Mthe 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
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'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
) O: s. Y% k0 G* ]9 O+ Wthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
6 C: B$ q" v5 J% p6 E$ l' o* ]9 G4 ?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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