[Premium-Rx] WJ Quad 8

[George Hays]

Hey Jeff;
The "first" of anything is almost always a pretty crude start to something new and different. But it gave a base idea to build upon and is certainly a collectors item...even if the performance is shoddy compared to later Digital Receivers. I was Test Supervisor at WJ-CEI when the 8888 was designed and can recall the  effort put forth by the Engineering group to get the first unit to operate well enough to get through an open house equipment display. It was received so well by our customers that....if I recall correctly...we quickly built about 50 production units to fill orders. That's when the nasty stuff really hit the fan. Instant Boatanchors. After some redesign however, the units were again manufactured and shipped to customers who for the most part were satisfied with the latest receiver technology available at the time (abt 1972-1973). WJ continued to improve on the design and other manufacturers jumped in with their designs. 
Your assessment of the 8888 is pretty accurate, but doesn't take into account the state of the art of electronics at the time.
George