Measuring impedance with multimeter


I am measuring a new full range speaker impedance that is advertised as 12 ohms and I am getting  a consistent reading of 4.2. 

I checked the multimeter on another bookshelf speaker advertised as 6 ohms nominal and I get exactly that.

I am using a multimeter at the speaker leads not connected to amp.

Why is this reading so low?
recluse

Showing 2 responses by kosst_amojan

There are drivers that range from 4 ohm to 25 ohm depending on the frequency. Multimwters are pretty much useless for measuring impedance. 
Recluse,

To be technically accurate, you're not measuring impedance with a multimeter. You're measuring resistance. Impedance applies to the resistance of an alternating signal. Also consider the thing you're measuring. A driver is an inductor placed inside a powerful magnetic field. Obviously it's got inductance that's going to resist higher frequencies. You're also moving wires back and forth inside a magnetic field. That generates electricity in itself that can drive impedance way up while rotating the phase angle around in weird ways depending on the mechanical properties of the driver and how it's enclosure loads it. 
Add into the mix the reactive nature of a passive crossover and there's a LOT of factors that contribute to the impedance of a functioning speaker. 
Multimeters are cheap. Audio Precision analyzers aren't. That's why.