Nagra VI

NAGRA VI SPECIFICATIONS
GENERAL
Data Storage Medium 2.5 inch Internal Hard Drive, IDE
External Removable Data Storage Medium Compact Flash (hot swap)
Disk FAT 16/32
Card Compact Flash slot type single Type I & II
Recording Method PCM (digital linear)
A / D & D / A conversion 24-Bit Sigma-Delta
File Format 16 Bit 24 Broadcast Wave Format (WAV)
iXML, AES-31 compliant
Tracks 6 individual
Pre-record buffer up to 10 seconds at 48 kHz 24 bit is 6 tracks
Sampling Rate 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz (with pull up / down 0.1%)
Monophonic / Polyphonic Selectable
Recording Capacity 20 min. 6 channels for 48 kHz, 24 bit for 1 GB
Display 3.5 inch color high brightness display
INPUTS
Digital input 2 XLR connectors AES-3 (A & B shared
with the analog input connectors 5 + 6)
Analog, 4 Microphone / Line Inputs Symmetrical, 4 XLR connectors (transformers
for 2.8 mV / Pa Dynamic Range)
Including Vortex Filters LFA filtering
Analogue, 2 Line inputs 2 XLR connectors (5 & 6 shared with the
digital input connectors A & B)
Powering 48V Phantom Microphone
Microphone Input Sensitivity 2.8 mV / Pa, 10 mV / Pa
Limiters 4x on microphone inputs, individual gold by hand,
active at - 7.6 dBFS, max. + 40 dB for - 2 dBFS
Line Input Sensitivity From - 6 dBm up to +24 dBm for 0 dBFS
Recording
THD at 1 kHz <0.1% Mic, <0.01% Line (Measured AES out)
Frequency response Mic. 10 Hz to 24 kHz, 0.5 dB, 0.2 dB Line
(AES out)
Input noise condenser mic. 0.88 uV (- 119 dBm)
Noise dyn. Mic. 4 dB (Measured ASA 200 Ω loaded)
Signal-to-noise ratio of 114 dB line TBD
Total Dynamic Range xxx dB (Measured AES out TBD
Input Level Range 50 dB Mic - 6 + 24 dB Line
Slate Mono Microphone Electret one front panel
OUTPUTS
Digital output connector 1 XLR AES-3, 24-bit or 16-bit
dithered
Line Output 2 XLR connectors, max. 4.4 V (15 dBm)
2 Headphone Jack 6.3 mm stereo connectors, 50 Ω
(In accordance to all usual headphones)
Speakers 2 x 1W TBD
COMMON IN / OUT
USB Host USB 2.0 connector, type A
USB Device USB 2.0 connector, Type B
Time code 5 pin Lemo connector, full SMPTE / EBU
compatible
Word Clock 1 D-Sub 9 pin connector
Fader start 3.5 mm stereo jack
POWER SUPPLY
Batteries Battery pack Li-ion cells or dry
Consumption XX - XXX mA Pendant record on HDD (No.
display light) TBD
Battery Charger 5 hours for full load
External Power input 4 pole XLR connector, 9 to 16 V, minimum
XXX mA TBD
External power output (HF receivers) 2 Hirose connectors 12 V, 1 A Max
PHYSICAL
Dimensions L x W x H 294 x 320 x 75 mm (11.5 x 12 x 3
inches)
Weight 3 kg (6.6 lbs) without battery pack TBD

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The Nagra VI is a 6 track recorder, recording on hard-disk and / or Compact Flash card. It has 6 analog inputs, four pre-amplified microphone that are well understood in switchable line levels .. For my part, I do have a small regret is that no two preamps to make additional catch multichannel systems with Holophone types or DPA 1500, requiring at least five microphone inputs for registration of 5.0, it is a shame ..
Two digital inputs (AES / EBU) are also available instead of the analog inputs 5 and 6 are switchable via the software of the machine. At the outputs, there are two headphone jacks, a speaker output, a reduction in mono, one AES / EBU XLR and two by the sub-D, and finally a stereo output Mix called symmetric. The original IDE drive is 120 GB capacity. Another little regret, with the absence of a DVD / BRD home as his colleagues in Sonosax AATON and yet very useful on a shoot, or in the evening if you do not have a computer to discharge sounds, it happens more often than we think .. on this point Nagra offers support engravings external via USB, but in my opinion it does not replace the convenience of a trick-camera, because no one wants to carry around various external devices that one can forget to take over in a hurry.
Nagra side routing is simple, perhaps a little too in fact .. It is not possible to double the recording of the same entry on two tracks simultaneously with the processing of different filtering or limiting, or other stunts sometimes necessary. As against it is of course possible to record a premix of 4 in post-gain, for example, lanes 5 and 6, via a dedicated page with a small pan for the first 4 entries. It is then possible to provide a premix bipiste pole / static for example movies or instrumentals / music room for recording. Hand mixing, it is of course possible to mix the 6 inputs to the main stereo output.
In the menu of a soft top on which to define the act of the front four potentiometers. They are assigned by default to the input gain, you can disable them or set them to "win mix", ie to define the level sent to the premix described above. In practice, this system allows some "fantasy" as to control the input gain of a track with a knob while adjusting the "gain mix" of the track in the premix with the potentiometer 2. That said, the limits are quickly reached, the number of knobs naturally not being expandable .. In an ideal world, would have eight knobs to provide input gains while providing the ability to control the levels of a premix / mixdown, but now four knobs, one is quickly limited when using more than 2 sources ..
Nagra like all his colleagues implemented a dématriceur M / S can act on the input pairs 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, and of course affecting the monitoring headphones, unless you have selected the "monitoring output "proposed for the MIX output.
I used music recording of an acoustic piano and a brass ensemble (stylish jazz). The preamp section of the Nagra is of very high quality and absolute transparency, and generates almost no breath even at very high gain. The analog to digital conversion seems to be high quality too (I only have my ears to judge) but this performance should be almost disassemble the machine to study the pre-amp circuits and conversion, and perform scientific measurements with various devices dedicated and reserved for maintenance or services to industry. But if we trust in his ears, on this point is flawless!