After adapter card is installed, you can attach tiny speakers to external speaker jack(s). In general, sound cards give four watts of power per channel to drive unpowered bookshelf speakers. If you are using speakers rated for less than 4 watts do not turn on volume on sound card to maximum; speakers might burn out from overload.

You will obtain better results if you plug your sound card into powered speakers that is, speakers with built-in amplifiers. If your sound card supports a four-speaker system, test documentation to see which jack is utilized for front speakers and which for back speakers. To utilize back speakers for 3D audio, change properties with mixer control software supplied with your sound card.

When sound card installation is done, you must have a speaker icon in Windows System Tray. If speaker icon is not visible, you can install it through Control Panel's Add or Remove Programs icon. With Windows 9 x/Me, choose Windows Setup tab and open Multimedia section. Then, test box labeled Volume Control. With Windows XP, open Sounds and Audio Devices icon in Control Panel, tick Volume tab, and tick Place Volume icon in taskbar box. In some cases you asked to put in Windows CD-ROM if extra drivers are necessary to finish installation.

If you utilize digital sound resources or output like Dolby 5.1, CD digital, or S/PDIF, go to properties for mixer device and allow show of these volume controls. Utilize Volume Control to make sure your speakers are getting a sound signal. The mixer occasionally defaults to mute. You can generally change volume separately for wave (WAV) files, MIDI, microphone, and other parts.