Hi, all. New to Linux Mint 18.1 but most things are straight forward except...

No sound from rear jack (any of the outputs) with speakers plugged in and turned on.
Asus 990FX R2.0 with RealTek ALC-892 onboard.
Installed PulseAudio control which shows 'plugged in' and horiz bar meter bounces with the music.
Checked ALSAMIXER - all volumes up and no mute.
Occasional low volume 'static' on speakers
Have not tried new drivers from RealTek but have downloaded them.
Perhaps I'm missing something obvious...

pactl shows:
Sink #7
State: RUNNING
Name: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo
Description: Built-in Audio Analog Stereo
Driver: module-alsa-card.c
Sample Specification: s16le 2ch 44100Hz
Channel Map: front-left,front-right
Owner Module: 7
Mute: no
Volume: front-left: 41350 / 63% / -12.00 dB, front-right: 41350 / 63% / -12.00 dB
balance 0.00
Base Volume: 65536 / 100% / 0.00 dB
Monitor Source: alsa_output.pci-0000_00_14.2.analog-stereo.monitor
Latency: 87534 usec, configured 90000 usec
Flags: HARDWARE HW_MUTE_CTRL HW_VOLUME_CTRL DECIBEL_VOLUME LATENCY
Properties:
alsa.resolution_bits = "16"
device.api = "alsa"
device.class = "sound"
alsa.class = "generic"
alsa.subclass = "generic-mix"
alsa.name = "ALC892 Analog"
alsa.id = "ALC892 Analog"
alsa.subdevice = "0"
alsa.subdevice_name = "subdevice #0"
alsa.device = "0"
alsa.card = "0"
alsa.card_name = "HDA ATI SB"
alsa.long_card_name = "HDA ATI SB at 0xfe600000 irq 16"
alsa.driver_name = "snd_hda_intel"
device.bus_path = "pci-0000:00:14.2"
sysfs.path = "/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0"
device.bus = "pci"
device.vendor.id = "1002"
device.vendor.name = "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI]"
device.product.id = "4383"
device.product.name = "SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)"
device.form_factor = "internal"
device.string = "front:0"
device.buffering.buffer_size = "65536"
device.buffering.fragment_size = "32768"
device.access_mode = "mmap+timer"
device.profile.name = "analog-stereo"
device.profile.description = "Analog Stereo"
device.description = "Built-in Audio Analog Stereo"
alsa.mixer_name = "Realtek ALC892"
alsa.components = "HDA:10ec0892,10438436,00100302"
module-udev-detect.discovered = "1"
device.icon_name = "audio-card-pci"
Ports:
analog-output-lineout: Line Out (priority: 9900, available)
analog-output-headphones: Headphones (priority: 9000, not available)
Active Port: analog-output-lineout
Formats:
pcm

Hi Lawn Ranger,
if You haven't solved it yet I may have a helpful hint; in AlsaMixer, when You choose F5>All, it shows among others the AutoMute option which I had to disable (switchable by arrowUp/Down), it immediately worked. Hope it helps,
Regards

Hmmm, my last reply hasn't shown up. Hope this isn't a duplicate.

Thanks for the input, Boycott. I did try the mute toggling in AM but to no avail. After spending a ridiculous amount of time on this, I bought a Sound Blaster card which worked right out of the box. I do appreciate the input, tho.

LR