Sony TA-N88B

Class D !
Huge power in small boxes, at last !

Long awaited and shown here and there throughout 1976, this amp had it all : PWM (Pulse Width Modulation), PLPS (Pulse Locked Power Supply, 20Khz chopping rate) and 4 pairs of complementary V-FET transistors !

Perhaps a little bold for many of the N88s still around are... dead. The slim-line box probably was too slim to hold all of these slick circuits, even if in fact a single diecast aluminium shell.
The underlying technology inside the N88, however, showed the path we now use daily, digital Class D, as recently revived by Yamaha and Sharp !

TA-N88 = silver in Japan, withdawn rather quickly after 1980.
TA-N88B = gunmetal grey elsewhere but for the first late 1977 batch ; remaining available in Germany until 1984.
Also available as a Wega Lab Zero in black fashion, no rack ears and green LED meters added.

Do read the USER technical review to understand why so many TA-N88s fried all too quickly - a fate which had nothing to do with the V-FETs.

A real N88 here.