Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
5 R2 N2 f1 ~) p& N' v( ]the various anodised legends on the deck plate, also absent are the adjustable AGC threshold knob and
6 _$ D; V" d7 ]) c/ ~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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(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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$ }, N8 C# ~7 _0 b1 S# y. O. t, `+ S* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
4 |. I1 _* [" g) z$ Fbeware, 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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3 J# l6 [6 o! b5 P- \$ [, pNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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" H) v% p8 c$ A# g+ j4 zNagra 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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: `8 S5 N/ G6 h1 W( \% ~. cNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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. N. g, l g5 |' F4 W! W, K) YApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
$ s) l c# O+ l: {5 {4 D( g7 m* u: Whave 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
% ?1 S: J# D/ y- A, MDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
9 |3 Q" \4 m$ [recorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
/ Z" N2 @' J9 ]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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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
; D$ A( w" {% f% K5 e- Ythe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
}4 S; L; h G, |" }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
9 q i" P+ y6 `- o2 g'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
+ ~" M6 o% G9 w/ r a' G' l# vseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
- R v3 e+ }, e9 p6 donto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
7 w5 S" V/ ?1 c4 Vthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
6 o3 x' O4 S4 k0 a1 x, A. v4 ?2 D/ k vVERY silly money.
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