I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but you have pointed out several
areas I need to address. I assumed that being battery powered meant that no
bypass cap would be needed, but I guess there will always be something to
bypass due to internal battery resistance (especially with the PIC running
when I get to that point). The quiescent noise level of the lm386 seems
pretty decent for the purposes at hand, but if a FET amp would be better, I
should pursue that as well. I would like to have it in one package if
possible due to size constraints.

Thanks to everyone for the assistance with this.

J