Sound unmanageably loud

Yesterday I upgraded from Windows XP SP3 to Windows 7 and while the transition was mostly smooth, I'm beginning to regret the change as a result of the seemingly (and unnecessarily) simplified volume controls on Windows 7.

I'm using a Creative X-Fi Fatality Professional series sound card (yes, up-to-date drivers) and a 2.1 Klipsch desktop sound system, and while I've had no problems on Windows XP, the sound is ear-rapingly loud on Windows 7. Turning the master volume down only does so much, as even at settings of 8 or 10 my speakers still explode with noise if the speakers volume dial is twisted up even 1/50th of its potential. Setting volume below a setting of 5 results in sound being completely muted.

I've searched assorted threads on this forum and others, and it seems to be a result of the lack of a "Wave" setting on Windows 7 to "fine tune" volume options. Most replies on other threads also seem to mention it being a driver issue, but considering the posters of these threads use a myriad of differing brands and models and are still having this issue I'm pretty sure it's a result of Microsoft removing the "Wave" setting more than anything else.

I am aware that you can go into Sound from Control Panel and tweak individual channels but the fact remains that I cannot find a way to tweak sounds to non-ear-shattering levels on Windows 7 without some kind of more specific controls than merely master volume. Creative Drivers seem to use whatever Windows-specific options are available, so the "wave" setting that used to be in my Creative Console Launcher are now just as non-existent as the ones in Windows volume control.

If it comes right down to it, I'll sooner reinstall XP again than go through the expense of purchasing a new sound card or speaker system just because Windows 7 doesn't want to accommodate it properly.

So what are my options here? Is there any kind of 3rd party volume control I can download that will allow me to set my audio settings more appropriately?

Sardonicus said:

To be clear, have you clicked on the speaker Properties, Levels and adjusted the Front setting below 100?

There is no "Front" setting, there is "Play Control" which seems to be master volume, Microphone FP, Digital In, MIDI Synth, and Line-In 1/Mic. All are set to 7 currently. There is also a "Balance" button next to all of them, in the case of Play Control this adjusts individual sound channels (L, R, C, Sub, RL, RR, SL, and SR.), but again all these individual channels are set to 7.

Sardonicus said:

When you bring up the Windows sound manager and click on your Creative device, there isn't a Properties tab?

There is a properties tab, but the contents of that tab is what I posted prior.

boohbah said:

right click on the speaker icon in the systems tray and select open volume mixer, that may help.

Volume mixer consists of master volume and program specific volumes (which are limited by master volume). I appreciate the answer, but it should be obvious from reading the OP that this is the first thing I had tried. The problem is that master volume cannot be quiet enough, and with no more specific way to adjust volume than a simple master volume control, I cannot properly tune my systems audio to a tolerable level.

I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that I may be better off reverting to XP until 7 has all its kinks worked out.

Sardonicus said:

Have you considered the on-board Realtek audio?

I haven't tried it, but I didn't buy a $150 dollar 128 channel sound card to listen to stuff on onboard audio. Like I said, if Windows 7 wont work with my current setup I'll merely revert to XP until it's improved. I'm just trying to see if there's any way to fix this, such as the possibility of 3rd party sound management software (not driver software), or something else I haven't thought of.

You can use NirCmd to set your Windows 7 system volume. The command I use is "nircmd.exe setsysvolume 75". You can find a copy of NirCmd on CNet here: http://download.cnet.com/NirCmd/3000-2094_4-77191.html