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Installation
Mounting
Place your Thunder amplifier at the predetermined mounting location. Use a felt pen to mark the exact position
of the mounting holes on the mounting surface. Set the amplifier aside. With a sharp, precise blade cut small
circles in the carpet and padding around the four marks denoting your mounting holes to expose the metal
underneath. Use a center punch to make an indentation in the metal to ensure that you drill the exact position
for the screws.
Note: Please use common sense and make sure that all vehicle wires, gas lines, brake lines, etc. are clear and will
not interfere with the installation. ALWAYS WEAR PROPER SAFETY GLASSES.
Connections
1. Bi-Level Inputs (Low/High Level Input) with Smart Engage™ – Both a low and high level signal can be used.
Be sure to lay the signal wire away from all power cables and vehicle computers. Use high quality twisted pair
interconnect cables to decrease the possibility of radiated noise entering the system.
• Using RCA Connections: If the source unit has RCA outputs, simply attach a signal cable from the source unit
to the amp’s RCA input. This will provide signal to the amp.
• Using Speaker Level Connections: If the source unit does not have RCA outputs, a high level signal can be
used instead by taking the supplied high level RCA adapter cables and connecting the bare wire ends to the
vehicle’s rear speaker wiring. Connect the left negative speaker wire to the green with black stripe wire on the
supplied high level RCA adapter. Connect the left positive speaker wire to the solid green wire. Do the same
for the right speaker connection using the purple wire. Now plug the RCA connectors into the amp’s inputs.
2. Speaker Wire Connections – When installing the speaker wires, please take proper measures to protect them.
For example, when connecting the door speakers, the speaker wire should run from the amplifier’s output
terminals, under the carpet, and through the factory rubber boot (loom) that protects the wires in the inner
door jam. If the factory boot cannot be used, take other measures to protect these wires. Sometimes the door
has to be completely removed to use the factory boot. If this is something that you do not feel comfortable
doing, please ask a professional to help you.
When connecting the speaker wires to the amplifier please observe the printed polarity markings on the
amplifier’s StreetWires connector. Failing to wire the speakers in proper phase could result in a loss of bass
response or poor overall sound quality.
These amps will have two PARALLEL speaker terminals, a positive and negative for a single woofer and an
OPTIONAL second set of positive and negative terminals for a two woofer configuration. These amps can
drive a minimum of a 1 ohm load.
• Strapping Two Amps: Strapping two Thunder TA81001 amplifiers together has never been easier. When
two Thunder TA81001 amplifiers are strapped, you can expect power output in excess of 3,000 watts and a
maximum current draw of around 300 amps. Please see “Power Terminals” for suggested electrical system
upgrades.
Insert Table here to show 2 amps strapped, Power Output, Current Draw
To successfully link the two amplifiers together you will have to follow the steps below carefully. The following
information will explain how to configure each amplifier so one becomes the “positive” (Push) amplifier and
the other becomes the “negative” (Pull) amplifier. Just follow the steps below and you will be on your way to
massive amounts of power.
1) Label the first amplifier as the Positive amp. Then set the phase switch on this amp to the 0 degree setting.
Label the second amplifier as the Negative and set the phase switch on that amplifier to the 180 degree
setting.
2) The interconnects coming from the source unit need to be split into each of these two amplifiers. Using a “Y”
connector, split the “Left” side of the interconnect from the source so that it can go into the “Left” RCA input
receptacles on each amplifier. Using another “Y” connector, split the “Right” side of the interconnect into the
“Right” RCA input receptacles on the amplifiers in the same way.
3) Only the positive speaker terminals on each amplifier will be used as the connection points for the speaker. Connect
the positive side of the speaker wire to the positive terminal of the amplifier labeled Positive. Connect the negative
side of the speaker wire to the positive terminal of the amplifier labeled Negative. Make sure that the impedance of
the subwoofer is no lower than a 2 ohm load, this is important in order to avoid possible damage to the amplifier.