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
9 }/ Y c, a S5 \7 Omachines, as does the 'patina' of the anodised finish. A most interesting version, has anyone got another?
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8 c M# d; T9 _8 e(Apparently yes, I have recently been advised.)
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1 l/ \/ g: z; O3 h1 |" x6 z9 Z1 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
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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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3 P8 `# L ^/ m2 i5 c, MNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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8 R% w' b6 S8 _3 d3 [% eNagra SNS - half track recording at 1 7/8 and 15/16 i.p.s. - surveillance quality recording in Mono
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8 v0 x) ~/ |: h2 |3 L& \5 jNagra 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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) ]6 L: i7 M! H: d- x* d2 SApparently for covert surveillance use it was preferable to have two separate recording channels to
) U! V7 a4 |' |$ C* zhave some chance of capturing a muffled or distant conversations. So these older stereo machines will
3 S! `6 k2 {, b, Q y5 a+ v' N1 ]; o/ Wtherefore be
optimized for speech recording only, and will also
run at low speed for maximum
, m3 b. M' U; ^- [0 Rrecording 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
# N: Z1 H1 R! ~6 g, e4 Xrecorders. 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
! X2 M( w7 Y0 c& z8 d* ]! f1 lbe possible to convert these machines for Hi-Fi use, but this would involve replacing most of the
( ?5 Q% | Z, ` d. U# |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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- U! o! ], C9 I9 q1 [% g& HTape for the Nagra SN
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9 M. E E( Q: i* GI have been amazed at the prices some people have been willing to pay on that wild west auction site for
' \1 z5 C. m6 S- L8 l+ Dthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
. y, g! A# s" `7 f n. T; Gwanted to play with it and make some recordings. I knew that the tape was basically re-reeled cassette
2 F% e2 o( S- G1 t; M" `+ dtape so I approached a tape duplication house in the UK and quite easily obtained a few part used
# N1 U* g; \4 S'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
( [% M! c* \. t. Qseveral 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
) i ?, J o" a( s, N+ W$ X8 tVERY silly money.
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