On the passing of Mr. "P" ..

[Al Klappenberger]

It is with extreme sadness that I inform the Klipsch community of the passing of my friend and mentor “Mr. P”, Max Potter. He is probably best known to most of us as the inventor of the “P-Trap”, a modification to the early Khorn crossover networks to remove the 9 KHz “glitch” inherent in the early K55V (push pin) driver. He passed away Saturday (aug 28, 2010) of cancer.

Here he is with a friend of his we should all recognize.

Al K

[Al Klappenberger]

What the Klipsch community doesn’t know is how much influence he has had on the all of us, mainly through me. Without Max, there would be no Trachorn and there would be no extreme-slope crossover networks. Max and I used to talk on the telephone for hours about audio. He was a collector of instrument microphones and a walking text book on how to use them. With his move from his home after his wife (Charlotte) passed away, he gave much of his collection to Lee Clinton. Several quality standard mikes came to me.

Here’s several ways he influenced all of us.

It was Max who first convinced me to try just sitting a set of Altec 511B horns on top of my Belles to replace the K500 squawker horn. I did it and never looked back! I mentioned to Max that I know of no horn made that would directly replace the K400 horn in the Khorn. He proceeded to describe the theory behind the Tractrix horn and mentioned that he had talked personally to Bruce Edgar to try to talk him into making a better squawker horn for the Khorn. Dr. Edgar simply had bigger fish to fry! I told Max that I couldn’t figure how to make a Tractrix horn with a square mouth. He proceeded to enlighten me on how you make the top and bottom flat and let the sides curve! Max pointed me to the article by Dr. Edgar. I was able to duplicate his design and write a program to do the design for the Khorn. The Trachorn 400 was born! I built the first one myself with great effort but was unable to find someone locally capable of making it properly. Again Max came to the rescue. He told me about Bill Martinelli at www woodhorn.com and the rest you know! So.. If it were not form Max, there would likely be no Trachorn!

In another conversation with Max, the subject of driver interference came up. When I explained my filter background and how easily I could design a crossover with 120 dB / octave slopes, I got pushed into doing it and writing a technical article about it. Without Max bubbling over about how major an improvement this could be, the article would not have been written and I would likely have never offered the extreme-slope network designs!

As a student of the subjective nature of the ear / brain combination, I received may dissertations on the fallacy of saying how I think something sounds! You can credit my persistent refusal to make these sort of comments and to disregard comments like this that I hear from others. This is why I stick to instrument measurements. He used to say that you must first start with the instrument measurements and then adjust things to your taste. What you like is right, for you and you only!

Thanks to Lee Clinton, here is some background on Max:

Max was a 1958 engineering graduate from the University of Arkansas. As an engineer for Western Electric, his early years were spent designing guidance systems for the Nike Hercules missile system. The Nike missile system was first proposed to the U.S. Army by Bell Laboratories in 1945. While Western Electric was Bell’’s manufacturing arm it also subcontracted to the defense department.
Max worked at several Western Electric facilities during his 25 year career before retiring in 1983.

Lee will have more to add later.

I will miss Max very much!

Al K

[Al Klappenberger]

Max was also a camera buff. I think Max took this picture, but I am not 100% sure. I know for sure that Max sent it to me though.

Al k.

[Al Klappenberger]

Max also helped me design the "Heresy on steroids" speaker using a K24 woofer in a ported box that goes down to 30 Hz with ease. He knew what he was talking about. Here's one of the speakers he built that he thought was one of his best.

[Al Klappenberger]

I mentioned earlier that Max was instrumental in the development of the Trachorn. I sent him the very first crude prototype I built in my garage with hand tools for him to evaluate. Here it is sitting on top his latest home-made speaker.

AL K.

[dan4510]

Sounds like quite a guy. Many people work and do not get credit for their contributions. You just tipped the balance in a little fairer direction on that one Al.

Dan

[Blvdre]

Nice post, Al. Thanks for the info, and RIP Mr. Potter.

[Arkytype]

Al,

Thank you for the heartfelt tribute. I too am saddened by Max's passing. As I read Al's thoughts, I was struck by not only Max's diverse interests (photogrphy, audio, classical electrical engineering) but that he performed all these activities to a higher level than the average person.

He was a very good motivator and after only a few minutes on the phone with him, you knew you were going to be researching something he said! As Al can attest, there were no short phone calls with Max! I've had my cell phone battery die during several long-winded but facinating discussions. In addition to audio, he was a fount of knowledge on matters photographic. We had similar digtial cameras and he was always suggesting menu settings to try so I could get better images.

When Max was diagnosed with the first of the medical conditions leading to his passing, he called me from Texas to say he wanted to give me his prized Bruel & Kjaer, General Radio and other measurement gear as well as an assortment of drivers and microphones. He wanted the gear to be used and not sitting in a garage. I was overwhelmed by this act of selflessness and felt honored that he would entrust it to me. Since I had already acquired some duplicate Bruel & Kjaer mics and preamps, I decided to pay it forward and sent Al a couple of capsules and a preamp.

My hope is that each of the Klipsch Forum members is privileged enough to have a "Max" in their circle of friends.

Lee

[TheEvan]

Al, I'm sorry for the loss of your friend, Mr. P. Thank you for sharing him with us.

[Al Klappenberger]

Here are two of the jewels from Max's collection that found their way to me. It's the B&K 1/2 inch mike element and the General Radio Microphone calibrator. With these and the Old Colony Mitty Mike II that he recommended to me early on. I am quite sure of my response and level measurement equipment if not always my technique!

An interesting thing about Max was the difference between how he could talk on the telephone compared to his emails. Below is a quote, in it's entirety, from one email I remember well:

"?"

That's it! Just a single character! I knew exactly what he wanted to know!

Al K.

[djk]

Max was always willing to help.

Unfortunately, I have deleted most of my older e-mail. Here is one that survived:

horn explanation Klipsch BB

Sunday, July 22,
2001 9:47 AM

From:

"Charlotte
& Max Potter" <mcpotter@ktc.com>

Add sender to Contacts

To:

dkleitsch

very good explanation of horn
behavior! you
didn't mention how the narrowing of vertical angle compensates for loss
of
power in all compression drivers due the mass
loading, given the choice the old designers chose to limit the
vertical, so most listeners seated primarily in the horizontal plane
would not
be effected. it still doesn't balance power into the room. the big
debate, do we
hear direct or power. my thought is we hear both, a 20 ms,. window will
give a
good prediction of actual ear brain response. constant directivity horns
that
depend on narrow slit are good at control but bad at sound. they will
follow the
actual power curve of the driver and must have eq . to get flat. the
research on why horns sound like they do, says this abrupt slot
discontinuity or any other is a big horn sound factor! please
answer privately. max potter, retired Western Electric Engineer. the
notorious Mr. P trap

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And about the Gillum G3 (a Forte with a sealed enclosure):

monitor

Monday, May 20,
2002 7:17 AM

From:

"Charlotte
& Max Potter" <mcpotter@ktc.com>

Add sender to Contacts

To:

dkleitsch

look familiar? http://audiographics.home.mindspring.com/ i
suggested that
Ed rotate them so horns are vertical , he prefers
that orientation for
better imaging. please answer off BB max potter
mr. p trap

[Al Klappenberger]

Dennis,

That has got to be one of Max's longest emails!

I didn't know you two knew each other, but I am not surprised. I will bet you met him the same way I did, a phone call out of the blue! He would monitor the forums and call up people that impressed him and introduce himself! The last sentence: "please
answer privately." was always important to him. He had lots of inside stories that he would tell you if he trusted that they would go no further!

Al K.

[Deang]

How utterly depressing to jump on here to see this news. Max was a person of the highest caliber and the world has just gone a shade darker. Max had a gift of being able to take the most complex concepts and breaking them down so even an imbecile could understand them. Our first phone conversation lasted almost four hours, but it might have only lasted two if it hadn't been for me stopping him every minute or two to re-explain something. He was an amazing communicator and teacher - a wonderous soul.

[Al Klappenberger]

I was just forwarded a letter from MARK Potter via Lee Clinton along with a group of pictures that should be of interest. They are in PDF form but quite large. I will try to upload the file intact.

AL K.

..................

Thank you for the very kind post that you & Al compiled
for my father, he was very passionate about his audio/speaker interests and
really enjoyed talking to those special few folks who "got it right". We found
a few pictures of Paul and Dad that would be cool to add to the post. These were
not the pictures I was looking for, I know we kept a few 8x10's of Paul that Dad
took that are really good. I will continue to look for them. I also found a
Klispch Audio notebook/binder that Dad had...looks to be from the late
50's/early 60's that I would give to you if you thought someone would enjoy it.
I have his favorite "Bullshit" button that Paul gave to Dad, that he used to
tell the story that Paul would get mad at Bose and flash the button instead of
actually saying it.

Right now we are planned for a small memorial at the Callison
and Lough Funeral Home in Bentonville on Sat the 18th--we need to firm the
date up with folks coming in from out-of town, so stay tuned, we would hope that
you and Paula could attend.

Thanks again

Mark

IMG.pdf

IMG.pdf

[seti]

Sorry for the loss of your friend.

[Beaner-Bob]

Let me too add to the Max (P-Trap) Potter eulogy and with sincere condolences to his son, daughter and grandchildren of which he was so proud.

Simply, Max was my friend. Our friendship started some 20 years ago after I wrote a letter to "Speaker Builder" about the K-Horn cross-over. Both Max and Jerry Hunter replied. Jerry with a schematic of a more current cross-over and Max with a phone call that started our 20 year friendship. .Based upon his recommendation, I immediately rebuilt my K-Horn crossovers incorporating his P-Trap. What an improvement! That phone call was the first in many, many LONG Saturday morning calls that increased my audio knowledge exponentially.

Because of his afore mentioned relation with ALK, I was an early tester of the TracHorn and Extreme Slope crossover, modifying both a pair of La Scalas and K-Horns. The speakers I use today have the ALK mid and high frequency configuration that evolved due to Max and the work of ALK. The vintage Klipsch community has lost a true pioneer and valuable contributor to our hobby/passion.

I was fortunate enough to have Max as a guest in my house for extended audio listening and my wife (who Max dubbed "Miss Golden Ears") and I also visited Charlotte and him at their home in Kerrville; both extremely kind and gracious people.

If you have internet access where you are Max, we miss you but take solace in the fact that I'm sure the audio is Heavenly.

Oh yes, one other thing..... Max is responsible for my Forum name "******-Bob".

[hklinker]

Al/******:

Thanks for sharing your memories of your friend.

From your comments, I can see he was the forerunner of the forum technology, using those archaic methods of communication...the telephone, and written articles. But even though the methods have evolved, one thing has not. The passion for the pursuit of audio perfection, and the willingness to help others.

That is what this forum is all about, and you are carrying on these values.

Thank you!

Herb

[Beaner-Bob]

I received the following email regarding Max Potter's

Memorial Service from his daughter Sharon:

"... There will be a Memorial Service celebrating his

life and digital photos on Monday, Sept. 20, at 3:00 pm. The venue is

Custer Road UMC: 6001 Custer Road, Plano, TX 75023. I am sorry that I

couldn't pull his email contacts off his computer earlier - it was quite a

struggle.

Sharon Potter Hudak, daughter

Send Condolences to:

Sharon Hudak

2400 Skipwith Dr

Plano, TX 75023

Or

Mark Potter

3205 NW Marseille Ct

Bentonville, AR 72712"

[sunnysal]

another great loss. thanks for telling us al. warm regards, Tony

[Arkytype]

For those of you in the NW Arkansas area, there will be a memorial service for Max Saturday, the 18th at 1:00 p.m. at Callison & Lough Funeral Home in Bentonville. They are located at 605 W. Central.

Lee