[Kenwood] TS870 Receiver Noise Reduction and other questions

[jack emerson]

i realize that this subject must have been hashed over years ago, but being 
new to this group, i am asking any 870 owners to provide me the benefits of 
their experiences and expertise regarding noise reduction. SWAGs are also 
welcome (sophisticated, wild-a_ _ed guesses).
the receiver audio in my ts-870 is as rich as i would have expected coming 
from kenwood. simply put, it is wonderful. however, after using this radio 
for almost 2 years now, and only having limited success via my own efforts, 
it's time for me to ask for help to see if i can make my 870 a better radio.
noise blanker:     noise blanker on my 850 was very effective. the noise 
blanker on my 870 as it is leaves much to be desired. it is ineffective 
against most static noises, unless the threshold is adjusted to maximum. 
then, the receiver is subject to overload and distortion. working with the 
spac and line enhancement adjustments in the menu have yielded no 
discernible improvements in the noise blanker. any thoughts would be most 
welcome.
noise reducer:      what noise exactly does the noise reducer reduce?  yes, 
the background noise disappears somewhat, but ssb audio clarity seems to 
drop off slightly. this function sounds ok when the received signal is 
strong, but do i need to change the menu  defaults for weak signals?
i've been experimenting around w/this, but i can't seem to find any 
combination of settings which yield any noticeable improvements.
while i'm at it, regarding transmit bandwidth selection  (menu29), at the 
risk of sounding stupid, i assume this refers to the audio response 
bandwidth, and has nothing to do w/the frequency bandwidth of the 
transmitted signal. any thoughts on your experiences with this would be 
appreciated. i have been using 2600hz setting, but don't know if i should 
change transmit offset setting to coincide w/the change i made from the 
default setting w/menu 29.
finally, any general comments, observations, recommendations would be 
appreciated, regarding the radio as a whole or menu explanations. w/my 850, 
someone actually had a website dedicated to these matters, but i haven't 
found one for the 870.
any replies directly  are ok in order to keep from rehashing info which 
probably has been covered extensively in the past.
73 de jack w4tje in north carolina