Venue is a small room, 300 capacity, live music from multiple genres. Mix of local, regional and national "talent", and the occasional DJ show. In a 48'x64' room you'd think eight "1000W" woofers would be enough?
Eight 18-inch drivers will not be enough if the cabinet they are residing in is not capable of offering the right frequencies at high sound pressure levels.
Keep in mind the EV Manifold series is only good to around 55 Hz. That may be fine for Rock but not nearly enough for DJ requirements in this day and age.
Once you are constantly burning up voice coils that is an indication of asking too much from your woofers. This stems from the following:
1. The Continuous Average Levels is too high for the voice coil to manage under long-term conditions. This can occur from heavy limiting when the goal is to prevent the amplifier from clipping. Since cone movement is minimised under these conditions, the voice coil is not cooled properly.
Matters will be worse if you push the amplifier harder with the assumption the limiter will prevent loudspeaker damage, due to a non-clipped output signal from the amplifier.
2. The cabinet is not efficient to reproduce the lower notes with enough SPL. Generally for DJ requirements, 40 Hz is needed. Manifolds, offer a –3 dB point @ 55 Hz. So the drivers need to work very hard to reproduce 45 – 35 Hz, which is common in the majority of music, DJs play.
Possibly you should contact Electrovoice and ask if it is possible to purchase their new 18-inch model (DVX 3180) used in the Pheonix Line. If you prefer to use the Manifold cabinets this may be the only way to remedy the problem providing the TS Parameters are similar to the EVX 180B.
Another option is to explore Faital Pro. They offer a woofer that is very close to the EVX 180B that should work in the Manifold series.
Best Regards,
Elliot