Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
1 @5 L% y9 L* G+ Nthe 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
0 q1 [, M, W9 ]- N, b% A+ }# Hmachines, 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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Click on either of the above images for more information.
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/ y. c6 @* F2 r/ S1 G4 K* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
0 w0 x+ y4 H+ X! d% Z$ Wbeware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
& t1 M, a7 @" u* L9 _1 r" OThere 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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3 ^! Q6 O1 k- T4 t7 S" `2 k' gNagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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q( e5 l* b6 k" ?$ R* o. @9 n# }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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* i B2 h1 V$ b' uApparently 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
% q" h, {; B4 W/ stherefore 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
3 Y: A2 B% W5 d. j$ }7 x3 Q+ |- drecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
1 ^/ W- n3 J* M8 |4 O2 E# Itruly 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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3 k( k6 P. b% F; D9 z5 l9 m( PCheaper 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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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
9 y1 G' X7 w/ H6 }% F1 }. E9 Fthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
3 C1 p- X: A' Y$ T3 ]wanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
8 t+ k. k9 i3 U- otape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
7 ]; `, N' B s" w" g& y'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
/ X. l! b p$ W; J( oseveral 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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VERY silly money.
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