There is no distortion from the soundcard, but because the volume(while set at max)from the laptop is not 70% of what my old Lenovo was driving. Therefore to make up for the lower volume coming from the laptop I had to crank up the PA almost to max and therein lies the problem and the less than perffect sound out of the speakers.

In fact I just returned from Office Depot where we tested every laptop in the store and not one model drove the volume my old Lenovo did. Bottomline there is nothing wrong with my new laptop, it is normal in that the volume is lower than older models.

I understand that there may be some "volume driving" software out there of which I am looking into, or maybe a pre-amp or external soundcard.

Thanks,