601 Field Coil Driver

**Mike Edwards** · January 6th, 2003, 05:52 PM

Hi everyone,

I've been interested in field coil drivers for some time and am interested to know if anyone has any experience with the 601 Driver?

-Mike Edwards forums

**Don McR** · January 7th, 2003, 12:13 AM

Hi Mike

The 601 is the holy grail of Altec drivers. There were only 100 built before it was replaced by the 604. My web partner and I have been trying to track one down for the last three years just to get pictures for our site. We have never come across anyone that owns one and it has never shown up on Ebay.

Altec used to have a 601 that they kept as a museum piece in Anaheim. However, no one knows what happened to it after that plant was closed. I have been told that Les Paul has one, but I have not been able to confirm this.

**Jim D** · January 7th, 2003, 12:27 AM

I have had quite a bit of experience with field coild drivers, 415s, 284s, 287s, Jensen's, RCAs, WE 555s, etc. Never a 601. Do you have one? I would love to see it. Blast, Don got his reply in before I got mine, I knew if he saw this it would perk him up. Jim D

**Mike Edwards** · January 7th, 2003, 03:08 AM

Hi Fella's,

No I don't have this sacred Jade, I was beginning to believe it a myth myself. I too have scoured ebay and every other cyber cave like Indiana Jones only to find willow the wisp. So out of the ones that might be found which are most credible, the 415, 284, 287 or WE555? I understand if the coil is in good shape, perhaps tested with Hipot or Megger and passed, that the core can be saturated giving Lowther like gauss. I've got an RFL 829G Calibrator aboard that can really crank out the current/volts for testing but I am wondering what the hot setup would be in the living room? Any ideas, dreams or visions you'd like to share? I'd love to try making a field coil but right now the time/money continuum is preventing this experiment with todays new material and technology I think it would be quite worthwhile. Oh, well..
-Mike Edwards forums

**Don McR** · January 7th, 2003, 04:26 PM

Ha! I beat Jim by 14 minutes.

I'll let my web partner Steve Schell know about this thread. He is a field coil fanatic, with his main system being an all field coil, all horn loaded system. He even built the field coil tweeters himself.

**Steve Schell** · July 2nd, 2011, 03:33 AM

I'd say that the rejuvenated Hostboard is working well, as I spotted a link to this ancient thread that I had never seen before. If Mike Edwards is still around please chime in, as I did see an original 601 in recent years and would love to find someone to talk to about it. Lots of other field coil observations as well.

**tomt** · July 2nd, 2011, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Schell

as I did see an original 601 in recent years

did you get any pictures?

**Steve Schell** · July 2nd, 2011, 06:35 PM

I did take some pictures, and posted them to this thread:

Holy grail driver

One strange aspect of this story: the collector who owned the 601 was a Japanese software engineer who worked in Silicon Valley. Shortly after my visit his company called him back to Japan, so he and his wife sold their home and left the country. The following year he emailed to ask me for a favor, to pick up some speaker cabinets (local to me) that he had bought on ebay and store them for a few months until he could retrieve them. I picked up the cabinets and stored them away. A couple of years went by, and I began writing to him to see when he could pick up his cabinets. To this date he has never responded, yet the emails to him in Japan do not bounce... a mystery.

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · July 2nd, 2011, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by Steve Schell

I did take some pictures, and posted them to this thread:

Holy grail driver

One strange aspect of this story: the collector who owned the 601 was a Japanese software engineer who worked in Silicon Valley. Shortly after my visit his company called him back to Japan, so he and his wife sold their home and left the country. The following year he emailed to ask me for a favor, to pick up some speaker cabinets (local to me) that he had bought on ebay and store them for a few months until he could retrieve them. I picked up the cabinets and stored them away. A couple of years went by, and I began writing to him to see when he could pick up his cabinets. To this date he has never responded, yet the emails to him in Japan do not bounce... a mystery.

Do you know anyone else that works for that company? If so maybe they could get in contact with the guy. I don't know what the timeframe has been, but poosibly he was a causualty of the Tsunami........... or less tragic maybe his life is just upside down.

**Steve Schell** · July 3rd, 2011, 02:43 PM

He disappeared long before the tsunami, a couple of years earlier. I tried web searching for him and his employer but struck out. After attempting to reach him multiple times I eventually sold the cabinets. My interactions with him were very positive overall though, as I got to see and photograph the 601!