Apparatus and method for increasing sweep angle of a rotary actuator in a disc drive. The actuator supports a head adjacent a surface of a disc and an actuator coil adjacent a permanent magnet assembly. The actuator coil has first and second active lengths which magnetically interact with adjacent first and second magnet portions of the permanent magnet assembly, with the permanent magnet assembly generating a magnetic flux reversal at a transition zone between the first and second magnet portions. The head is moved by applying current in a first direction to move the actuator coil in a selected coil direction, thereby causing a selected one of the first and second active lengths to cross the transition zone. The polarity of the current is then reversed so that the current is applied in a second direction opposite the first direction, which causes the actuator coil to continue to move in the selected coil direction.