Fairchild MODEL-660
A model number that turns up on a $35,000 studio compressor, a $399 plug-in, and a six-pound tape recorder - and the archive cannot yet say which one this page is about.
Overview
Model numbers get shared badly, and this entry is a warning about that. Searching the Fairchild name against "660" turns up at least three unrelated things. None of the source material supplied to this archive settles which one the page should describe. Until it does, treat any "Fairchild 660" listing with suspicion and read the seller's photos closely.
The first candidate is a studio compressor. A period advertisement in the source documents re-introduces "the undisputed champion in price, weight and performance: the $35,000, 100-pound Fairchild compressor." A software house built a no-compromise replica of it. The ad copy puts the plug-in at a $399 US MSRP and says it can be run "a dozen at once - even in stereo" on Pro Tools or MOTU systems, as reported in Sound on Sound (August 2001, p.244). That is a real Fairchild product line. But the advertisement is selling the replica, not documenting the original hardware, and it gives no specifications for the hardware itself.
The second candidate is a portable tape recorder. A separate advertisement in the source material describes a "6-lb. Model 660 portable tape recorder" from Citroen Electronics Corp. of Los Angeles, sold as the CEC professional Model 660. It ran on six penlight batteries, AC, or in a car. The same document says Citroen's Models 550 and 660 were being fitted with a 7½ ips kit at no charge, giving three-speed performance. The 660, described as a two-speaker portable, sold for $149.50. It is a completely different machine from a Fairchild compressor, made by a different company, and the archive has no basis for connecting the two beyond the shared number.
The third possibility is that "Fairchild MODEL-660" means something else entirely. The manufacturer name is ambiguous on its own, since Fairchild Recording Equipment Corp. built audio gear while Fairchild Semiconductor and Fairchild Camera built other things. No source supplied to this archive confirms the product type, the production years, the original price, or a single specification for a Fairchild-branded 660. The identity is unresolved.
What can be said with confidence is narrow. The Fairchild name attaches to a compressor that the source material prices at $35,000 and describes as weighing 100 pounds. The number 660 also attaches to a $149.50 Citroen portable. Beyond those figures, everything is unknown here: circuit topology, tube complement, transformer specs, production dates, serial ranges, current market values. Anyone tempted to buy on a model number alone should confirm the manufacturer and the product type from the item in hand before money changes hands.
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