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
4 O/ |- C3 X; K, R. }. [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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$ T; R1 K2 g( H+ n ~(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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0 ~ J% J7 X, j: N2 E0 NClick on either of the above images for more information.
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. J5 ~+ U* M* N2 ~* q6 N& s* 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.
( G+ G+ G8 `( i) P6 B' oThere 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 x8 K9 ]" M' S7 g6 F# _+ {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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# p+ W8 r5 f2 y- p4 V5 _. `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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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
1 T2 L+ Y2 P4 {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
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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
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truly Hi-Fi recording, but
the slow speed SNS and the SNST stereo versions are not. Perhaps it might
" t1 Z( {+ ]! Y: Ube possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
' l, \" G4 A+ }" n9 S3 u5 Pelectronics and be very expensive.
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6 A: }$ N# ] {* bCheaper 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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" B" ^+ l3 d! a% ZI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
$ }2 b# s7 ^* _1 @- ^' C# ` |the 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
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tape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
$ w; e6 b; S' [9 L i' Y'pancakes'. These are the un-flanged bulk reels of tape (about 10" dia) that are automatically wound into
. K% }* c+ n9 g* z9 qthe 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
$ ~1 H( ^, R1 i. D0 Xonto the Nagra plastic reel (by using the hand crank on the machine). I did this a few years ago and
" J4 _$ }7 J i. p7 ?* Wthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
* P' `7 f+ t9 }* S% i& F# ?3 LVERY silly money.
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