Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
% z4 m( J2 _; R8 }the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
) `/ o' u2 a+ X! f3 lthe transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
# v. [6 }0 ^1 g) y) k. |5 g( emachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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/ Q0 s! I% Z u- x9 q; A. T0 W# G7 yClick on either of the above images for more information.
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9 s& D4 F" h1 s* V9 ~& x6 D* 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.
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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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Nagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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% w( h" e' x$ qNagra 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
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therefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
* F# a. y7 L8 _: Orecording 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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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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) Z- N+ |0 o* P0 q7 o# vCheaper 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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* U0 U0 Q! }$ A, E$ a8 EI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
# S6 ~7 D9 N7 n; Z/ I, _the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
# t: P8 r- c8 e. D5 jwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
5 z0 Z- J+ B" L N1 S# Q8 k9 R8 utape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
8 ]7 g5 l' L/ K; L0 `'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
u, ?8 Q& I7 [* T3 i* Q. Sseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
; k/ _4 W4 A1 u5 O: yonto 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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