Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
: }8 {, O6 e3 d5 {& }the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
+ a9 h5 d/ }; m7 bthe 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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(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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; Z7 `" Z/ Y- [! S7 h" M8 i# {Click on either of the above images for more information.
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2 Y; F4 ]' L3 J6 H5 {. F* 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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5 { {6 C) J( z* G7 RNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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, b Y$ k2 X. |2 x* N2 T: MNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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1 ~7 P) |* J. u m1 s& A; {2 ?, F3 }Nagra SNST - Stereo recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Stereo
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1 y4 L- Q( L C3 I) l. O+ ONagra 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
. I! W* j; I" T, Y; nrecording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
' a: q7 J7 F4 T- T0 x; m" W" wDSP) 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
# N, ]5 S: _4 \4 A4 r: f2 }. \truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
+ b, Z& O0 Y6 L8 @be possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
' C% m# b; s% r) l& belectronics 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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" S9 C+ n( `' m6 s$ c' l4 t# 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
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the little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
& b; a" c( b" T" T: T* f1 Hwanted 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
- t* M) c1 i2 o5 i3 t& t3 f'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
2 I4 T7 K, y. a9 D+ {( D# xseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
' R9 V# K+ D5 \3 g+ tonto 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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