Hi Evan,
I used a 5 watt amp, ( the one included in Sunils case), hooked directly to the output of my V4 and it works great, plenty of audio. I have used a lot of LM386's in my day and they are totally usable if driven properly, the one in the V6 is just coasting along and needs more drive. I just need to find a easy place to insert a preamp without having to modify the board too heavily. I will keep studying the schematic, maybe I will have to open a trace on the bottom of the board.
Joel
N6ALT