update disconnected everything. Check all the wiring its condition. Nothing is shorting out - tested with DMM on all ends.

Removed one of the Brand New as of 5pm tonight and the dual coil read 2.1 and 2.1 after taking out of the box. The coil now reads 2.1 and 16.7. the sub saw 5-8 minutes of real play.

next step is to redo all the wiring AGAIN

Haunz - I did you wiring config and the reading I get is 8.9 - all four coils read 2.1 or 2.2

here is the question during that testing time when u played them for 5 minutes... did you turn off your DMM? if not, maybe its simply that your battery is weak and you are getting a wacked reading. and im sure that over the longer period of time you shut it off and the battery slightly recuperated giving you propper reading again... but I could be WAY off.
I would simply do a battery test on the subs... using your cordless drill battery and pop the subs to see if they all move the same distance... you know what Im getting at

Peter, I'll try that with a cordless drill batt.

Yes both DMM have been turned off and both batteries were changed.

just did the test and the results look identical. DMM both on two different meters and one coil says 2ohm and the other says 16.

It's beginning to wound like you need an Old Priest and a Young Priest to solve this issue. This is by far one of the strangest things I've heard of. Pop em with a 14-18V battery

Just did and now they read 2 and 2 again....Someone call a priest - I need an exorcist.

Maybe your meter readings are a fluke ... lol :cheeky4:

Well Thanks to larry we narrowed it down to simple wiring config and Hanuz suggestion was the right one after all.

standby for update

back to normal all final load is 4 ohms