I recently installed kubuntu 6.10 to dual boot next to windows xp, on a seperate hard drive though, it detected two sound cards and the wrong was set to default so after a struggle I made a change in bios to disable the integrated card. But then I noticed that I can only hear audio from my rear speakers. I have a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 Player.

I got to wonder why it was like that and tested all of the available volume levels in alsamixer, still didn't work. The rear speakers still worked when I muted the "Master" channel.
Nevertheless I decided that ubuntu is no good distro and got to windows to find another distro, I was going to try opensuse when I noticed that the front speakers are out of order in windows too...
I uninstalled the drivers and let windows install my card on its own, still I can hear audio only from rear speakers and subwoofer. I tried to search every mute knob and volume setting I could find but they were all in the right position.

This seems to be not just a linux problem anymore, but since kubuntu started it, maybe it can also solve it... Or some other way, I just want my speakers back.

I can think of two possibilities:

a) the cables to boot front speakers are not firmly plugged in.

b) in alsamixer, while the volume controls may indicate a volume setting, the speakers may be muted. There is a symbol over the volume control which looks like speakers back to back. If you see (( and )) around the speakers (sound waves) the speakers are active. If the sound waves are not there, the speakers are muted. Jusc click on the symbols to unmute them.