Vista - Low Sound Problem

I have one computer with Vista Ultimate x64, and two laptops with Vista Home Premium 32bit. All 3 computers have the same problem. All computers are new Dell computers, too. In Windows Media Center, when I play music files, the volume is normal. All of Windows Media Center's sounds and Windows' sounds play at normal volume. If I'm watching TV through WMC, the volume is very low. Volume is also low for watching any kind of internet TV, or movies from NetFlix, through Windows Media Center. Any music being played through a browser is very low (I use FireFox, but have noticed this problem in Internet Explorer as well). On my laptops, which use internal speakers, are so quiet at max volume that it is almost impossible to watch any sort of video because you simply cannot hear it. With the Ultimate computer, the sound output is hooked up to a home stereo receiver, but I have to max out the volume on the receiver when watching TV or listening to anything through a browser, and then if I play a music file, either through WMC or WMP, it is deafening loud. In the browser, the volume is up all the way in the applet (such as YouTube). The computer's volume is all the way up, and every mixer bar in the mixer is turned all the way up for each application. For example, if I'm playing something through FireFox, the volume slider for FireFox in the sound mixer is all the way up. When music is playing though, lets say through FireFox, the volume in the YouTube window will be up all the way, the FireFox slider will be up all the way, but the little green bar that moves up and down with the music telling you your sound level is only at the very bottom of the range. and doesn't move very much when sound is playing. It maybe goes 1/10th of the way up at most. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Greg

Try reinstalling the sound drivers. Do you have a separate sound card that could also be conflicting?

go to your system tray and right click on the little speaker, open the mixer, change all the volume tabs to max and give it a go and make sure that this is the case in these programs (alt+tab can help with this)

I could try reinstalling the sound card drivers, but it seems weird that it is happening on all three machines. All machines are different.

I have tried adjusting the volumes in the mixer for each individual program, that does not help.

Thanks,
Greg

Have you ticked the "loudness equalisation" in Enhancements tab? HTH.