Above is another view of Mr Blackham's unusual Nagra SNN. As far as I can see, apart from not having
/ W7 b+ q2 ^0 Q2 k: V+ 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
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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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* [) t6 j' i! R- R(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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) x/ j* R* w P, S8 lClick on either of the above images for more information.
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* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
O$ B8 y" X/ Y+ _beware, as It is unlikely that these will be the recent versions designed to record high quality music.
7 i1 R5 i5 ?2 ]2 g/ cThere are now apparently four versions of the Nagra 'SN':
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5 E8 y$ _- f# J2 z8 Q4 VNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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# }, ~, O8 s' m& L* p8 uNagra 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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- G( Z- u+ w" i. JNagra SNSTR (recent) - Stereo recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Stereo
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3 ^: {9 _/ F4 d HApparently 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
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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
1 O* P4 |( w1 J7 J! n Brecorders. 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
. o% p# v' [: v0 X& d; z+ Q7 U1 ~electronics and be very expensive.
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. h9 e" F' P$ h& q; d" gCheaper to buy a rather bette
r stereo
IV-S in the first place!
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6 p1 h1 o* F# K& V& x1 F7 ~Tape for the Nagra SN
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/ H1 W5 I1 |3 f/ i2 T$ VI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
0 J( t. ^' ?' r- c% v8 tthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
9 w# _9 F. k9 Q M8 Y+ Ywanted 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
& s3 F6 M) v B* w- M9 @, d3 V'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
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several 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
7 j3 a [! R7 j6 C7 {things may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
7 w: C7 f! s: X( F d5 dVERY silly money.
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