Car Stereos: hooking up amp to wall outlet, amp power supply, volt power supply

Question
Ok this may sound crazy and expensive but I have a kicker sx700.4 amp
for sale and a friend wants to buy it but to hook up for his dj equipment.
I know there has to be an inverter but I have no idea how or what he
needs...

Answer
Hi Garrick,

Your friend would need a 12-volt power supply to use the amplifier with a standard 110-volt electrical circuit.  Such power supplies are available from many sources, and are rated according to the amount of current they can produce (in amperes).  Power supplies with higher current capacity are much more expensive.

To get an idea of the amount of current your amplifier requires, you can look at the fuses on the side.  It looks like your particular amp comes with two 40-amp fuses, which means it's designed to use a maximum current of 80 amperes.  An 80-amp power supply is likely to be a very expensive item.  You can run the amplifier from a power supply with a lower power rating, but the lower you go, the greater the chance that the amplifier will overload the power supply and it will shut down.  Of course, this would happen when the amplifier was playing at its loudest--not an ideal situation for a DJ.  

Here's an example of a 12-volt, 80-amp power supply:

http://www.kinetikaudio.com/2009/product.asp?C=2&P=KIPS12-80

This model appears to be available from various online vendors, for around $250-$300.

Hope this helps!

Brian