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
@& }% S$ `* |: mthe 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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9 I, B* b0 |/ v9 E3 p+ g$ D1 X(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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( T( B2 R4 Y6 `7 C; [( J# h* For those who are looking at the stereo versions of this recorder often to be found on 'Eday', do
# {4 E* l6 w1 B7 g6 dbeware, 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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* n. I8 C4 r4 t/ R/ oNagra SNN - full track recording at 3 3/4 and 1 7/8 i.p.s. - high quality recording in Mono
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4 q% x, h5 ~5 A3 @# f: B9 ?+ w7 J* `: eNagra 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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" n" T* b3 B; Y5 @0 e8 eNagra 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 k$ g" V5 e! R6 b4 S- @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
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recording time and not fidelity. Actually Nagra made a special playback loudspeaker system (25100
8 K/ E' S" K0 E8 c( MDSP) with built in equalization to compensate for the quite limited frequency response of these
! r# ]) M3 L& orecorders. A standard mono Nagra SNN running at 3 and 3/4, like the ones on this page are capable of
, b. @: \3 V; u' m' ntruly 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
+ @8 S+ d: s) D" z5 t( z2 Helectronics 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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# R. U% j3 }+ ^4 pTape 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
& q# J" [3 u3 d. |% x1 Rthe little reels of tape for this machine. When I first acquired my example from the BBC naturally I
" d; b3 j) t# m/ E% jwanted 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
. `' l |& L! `6 o'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
0 r8 @( t" U- d% Bthings may be slightly different these days, but perhaps worth investigating rather than spending some
$ b l- d+ Z0 x Q j |) ?0 CVERY silly money.
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