Electrovoice 18" Woofer: smallish Magnet; only 2.3 ohms?

For me, the magnet is too small to control the mass of the woofer cone well. As far as dc resistance, also too low. I've never seen any woofers rated at 8 or 16 ohms read 2.3 ohms dc. I'd be very leery. Unusually low resistance could be indicative of a partially shorted/damaged VC from excess driving. Are you saying your 8 ohm woofers read 3.5 ohms dc?

fiesta, thanks for your reply, we agree, magnet for 18" seems too small, part of the job is to control it after moving it!

 and something is wrong with the impedance readings.

I never measured my 15W's. I know Electro-Voice made mine, 16 ohm version, (based on being in an all 16 ohm 3 way system made in 1958) and, from their service bulletin which shows they also made an 8 ohm version.

the last link was to show what my 15W LOOKS like, see the monster magnet I'm referring to. That seller's meter shows his 15W as 3.5 ohms, also makes no sense to me.

I have a spare 15W downstairs, seller said 16 ohm version, I am realizing I should check it. I also have a spare cone/coil kit, I suppose I should measure it if specs are not in the box, I never opened it.

Yes, I see what you mean about the magnet size. One thing that shocked me was the last link of the 15W’s, the WK & BWK’s models say 3.2 ohms dc for a 16 ohm impedance. Maybe a misprint or I just learned something new. Not seen any 16 ohm speakers to read below 5.6 ohms or so dc in my 40+ years...?

      Electro-voice made their 15" and 18", W Series woofers in two versions.     The WK types were specifically designed for use in corner-horn (K-type) enclosures, with a restricted enclosure volume and a horn-loaded output.

       Though they were both rated as 16 Ohm nominal: the K types spec at 3.2, as opposed to the W's 11.6, with DC.

        The W types were designed for infinite baffle enclosures.

        There were also 15BW and 15BWK versions, that had a smaller voice-coil (2") and lighter magnet structure, than the W and WKs (2.5" VC).