One of the hang ups about the Icom 7000 is the stock hand microphone that 
comes with the radio.  The gain is greatly reduced due to the literal 
construction of the microphone itself.  I paid a little over 40 dollars to 
have A E 5 B do his modification and my FM audio, according to my 2 meter 
friends, is back to normal, and what I copy on sideband by listening to my 
SSB phone signal on my R75 using headphones, is so vastly improved, it is 
ridiculous.  So, in short, it was like getting a new microphone.  Bob is 
fast about turning them around, too.  He got mine on a Friday and I got it 
back on the next Tuesday.  Go to:

http://www.7000mic.com/

read about it, if you need to, and play the video to get an idea of what he 
does to the microphone.  I have several friends in Denver with the IC 7000 
and I have one friend with two radios.  He has shown me the difference 
between the stock microphone and the modified one and it is amazingly 
improved.  It was under driven on FM and way over driven on sideband.  The 
microphone was made, you guessed it, in China.

Phil.
K0NX