It does depend on the sound card installed to whether the output signal is
pre-amplified or not.

But to make sure that you definitely DO need to buy a pair of amplified
speakers - test the output by starting the volume control (sndvol32.exe)
setting the "Master volume" and the "Wave OUT" volume both to maximum.

The open the small Sound Recorder app (sndrec32.exe) and click on File
Open from the top menus and search for and play any WAVe file in
C:\WINDOWS\MEDIA

Testing in this way obviates any false results that may occur from any
intermediate sound-level controls

i.e. Window's Media Player has it's own independent volume control, and
although you may set all the Window's sound levels to maximum - if
WMPlayer's own level is low then that will scupper your test!

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"William Lurie" wrote in message
...
Sound from rear jack comes out as stereo but needs to be louder, even
with all settings at maximum. Appears to be driven by Realtek HD Audio.
Windows Media Player is onboard; maybe it would be better. But how in XP
do I make the change?