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
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the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
n: T5 |: u4 P1 [1 S9 i3 W$ Nmachines, 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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3 |. P' Q) n1 G2 B0 N* tClick on either of the above images for more information.
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7 k; X6 ^+ S; j, a+ e0 h+ K' n: r8 C* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
# T) A1 X; \, O8 n1 F& `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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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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# H) I! z+ L* z. _Apparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
, z; Y0 p4 H1 d, v0 e2 U9 b. v* ohave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
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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
& t r6 T9 Y9 t( D5 V8 ?DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
& ~; W! t9 c; ~5 f" `" y* Brecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
- q( o8 M' k+ k- s8 gtruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
4 o, O' h* {; c1 t: Tbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
: T" V9 f3 ^. O9 Y' d- H3 R: Kelectronics 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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I have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
* H$ J; \6 F% H& p% g4 nthe 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
3 g+ y" V2 D K; [% X$ ]9 l+ Ytape 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* t6 J( F, \' r# W* @, Zthe cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
) C% D. z5 I' [7 }5 N# Rseveral 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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