[TenTec] Orion Question

[k8jdc at sbcglobal.net]

I received my new (used) Orion I last week from TN.  I work full-time and was out of town this weekend, so I haven't been able to spend huge amounts of time with the Orion, but I had a question about my initial impression.  I spent a couple of evenings going through the manual and playing with the radio's menus and settings (and downloaded 2.059d into the radio, which came with 2.037).  The Orion is quite different from my previous base radio, which is an Icom 746 (non-Pro), so I've been spending time playing with AGC, NR, NB, RF Gain, and so on.

I did some A/B comparisons with my 746 during the week in non-crowded conditions, and I felt like the Orion and my 746 were about the same on receive performance while listening to some phone QSOs in various bands.  I guess this surprised me because of all of the raves about the Orion's receiver.  I wanted to try some A/B comparisons in crowded conditions because I would expect a more-pronounced difference between the two, but I haven't been able to do that just yet.  

Question 1 - Should this non-scientific result surprise me?

Question 2 - I've tried a variety of settings on the AGC settings and NB/NR/RF Gain and have tried to use some info from the manual and from some other places on the web with regards to starting points for these settings in different conditions, but I haven't found a combination yet that really surpasses my 746.  For the most part, I'm using fast AGC, NR3, NB3, Preamp=off, and high (85-95) RF Gain.  I have the optional 1.8 KHz filter, but I normally leave the BW between 2400 Hz and 2700 Hz.  I welcome recommendations and/or lessons learned from your operating to help optimize the receiver.  

I like the radio and feel fortunate to have gotten a used one that's in such nice physical shape.  It's totally mint except for one small 1cm scratch on the top.  I can't find any other defects on it.  Maybe I was expecting too much.  Maybe I'm using a non-optimal setting.  I'm not sure at this point.

Thanks and 73,

Dave / K8JDC