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
# X* L7 V+ q0 l9 Y4 _the transport lock-out 'switch' next to the meter. The cover 'hinge' arrangement differs slightly from later
) G& P( O s# C" V8 D9 ^) dmachines, 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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* 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.
; k1 z: U) g. M- ]( B1 JThere 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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6 j7 V1 F0 H( {" o6 rNagra 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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. k! G# @! n' X+ [- [9 mApparently 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
9 W% n* \2 N& V* e) K7 otherefore 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
- ?2 A) V% [# B8 U. x* ~3 ?DSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
* [* A3 ~2 A. X' crecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
6 P" A# e1 T& p. z: [; y- ?$ itruly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
3 ~/ [0 e% b3 T9 A; I) Nbe 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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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
" ]8 N9 f; R9 B5 F! q# C7 lthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
4 Z4 H6 Z8 q* e) S* q, ?& ^, Gwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
, @8 ?% R8 r. Z6 W9 dtape 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
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the cassette shells. I then contacted Nagra UK (always helpful) and obtained for around ?5 each
* {2 t& E! \# f8 Gseveral pairs of empty plastic reels. It then was quite a simple matter to wind tape off the pancake and
* a& q! `3 l0 k. S0 jonto 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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