why do my two 4ohm type rs wired together in parallel give a final ohm reading of 2.9 and 3.0 on DMM?

[Excursion]

Can anyone explain why my 2 alpine type r 4ohm subs wired together in parallel are giving a final ohm reading of 2.9 and 3.0 on my digital multimeter? I have not pulled the subs out of the box to test each voice coil yet but I will do that as soon as I get home from work tonight. Ive had them for about 2 months and have had about 800rms in total to both subs. I took them out a few days ago cause they just all the sudden werent loud like they used to be. I thought I had just blown them but them... any help would be great Thanks

[ALPINE408]

sounds like you blew 1 side of the coil

[Maxim]

Wires might be touching somewhere they shouldn't be. Pulling them out of the box should definitely help isolate the issue.

[Crandis16]

could it possibly be a bad solder job???

[ChevyBoy95]

or........................... check the internal resistance of the meter. A shitty harbor freight meter i had was .9 to 1.1 ohms high (3 was essentially 2)

[Excursion]

I got home and pulled them out of the box. All of the coils read between 4.6-4.7, I then tested my Memphis Mojos that are Dual 1 Ohm and all of the coils on those came out to be between 1.6-1.7 so I guess my Digital Multimeter is off by around .6-.7. And thanks to ChevyBoy95 for the info because I just bought this DMM from harbor freight 2 days ago. I still dont understand why my readings were 2.9-3.0 when I wired them both in parallel? I took the reading from the terminals from the box is that why? Even with the DMM being off by .6-.7 It still should be around 1.7 unless it adds the two .7s together which would make sense. But that still doesnt help with why they all of the sudden the loudness of them is about half of what it used to be... If I am missing anything please let me know. I checked what I could see of the tinsels and the spider everything looks good. I pulled the gaskets off and checked the cone and surround everything is glued together. You cannot see the voice coils on the type Rs but I figured if that was the problem the readings would have been jumping around.. Thanks to everyone who has been helping me on this.

[bassface]

Im guessing the resistance in the speaker wire possibly changed the reading. Damn that dmm seems off by quite a bit though.

Edited May 31, 2012 by bassface

[n8ball2013]

set your meter to check impedence and touch the probes together. that will tell you how much resistance your probes have. btw if they are that high get new ones.

[Blackedout]

The harbor freight meter isn't a quality meter. I can't explain why the subs aren't as loud as they were before, but I can tell you the meter isn't great. I worked at HF for 4 years. There's not a meter in that store that reads resistances like a quality meter does. If I was in your situation I'd start at the signal. Make sure all your Rcas are securely connected and have output. Double check all your grounds, wire, fusing, etc. Take a voltage reading at the front battery and at the terminals of the amp. Make sure the voltage is within .1 from front to back.

[ALPINE408]

i still think a coil is dead he took them out cause he lost output??????????