I have a late model TR-4 (non-C, the one with the B-Line style tuning knob). The audio output is quite high - a lot higher than the R-4B I have - certainly higher than needed to drive the speaker. Being a later model TR-4, it's got the little circuit board underneath the chassis near V17 with the extra audio preamp (solid state) that people have noted before.
The problem is, when using headphones, the background noise level is annoyingly high. You have to turn the AF gain up just to get the signals over the noise. This background noise doesn't vary with the AF gain, by the way, which leads me to believe that it's being generated in that extra gain stage.
So my questions for the multitude are:
1. Why did they add this in later models of the TR-4? (I don't expect a definitive answer, really.)
2. Has anyone else noticed this problem, and if so, what did you do about it?
Thanks, 73,
Chris, W2PA
