Speaker cabinet impedance question

[thintheherd]

I recently loaded a 4x12 cabinet with 16 ohm each speakers. My goal was to get the cabinet to 4 ohms, so I wired two of the 12's in parallel and the other two in parallel and then the met the two pairs at the input jack of the cabinet. So two positive ( one from each set) meet at the tip terminal of the jack and the two negative (one from each set) meet at the sleeve of the jack. Should be 4 ohms right? they are all in parallel at this point. Well, I measured the resistance with a multimeter to get an impedance close to 4 ohms but it is reading 1.8?

I realize that multimeters measure dc resistance but doesnt this seem too low? I am running a vintage 4 ohm tube amp through this cabinet and I dont want to put any strain on the output transformer. Any help or insight?

Thanks, TTH.

[pdf64]

I'd expect about 3 ohms - are you sure there isn't a short?
But if it sounds ok, then it will be ok, so try it out at reasonable levels, don't kick straight in on 10.
Most meters have poor accuracy on low ohm readings.

[Enzo]

You said it already - resistance is not impedance. Measure what one of your 16 ohm speakers has for resistance. If you have four of that, does it calculate to roughly the same total resistance? it is probably fine.