4 channel sound

[nice_shoes]

I have the nF4 Ultra-D, and my current sound arrangement is pretty simple:

I have a set of very cheap computer speakers plugged into the "front" jack on the Karajan module and another pair of equally cheap computer speakers plugged into the "rear" jack on the Karajan module.

 

I use the Realtek sound manager and when I do that buzzing bee demo the sound seems right and the bee appears to be circling around my head.

 

The speakers on the front have a headphone jack, and I plug ear buds into that jack when my wife complains about the noise if I'm playing a game (seems that the explosions and gunshots bother her).

 

The headphone jack has just begun making intermittent connections and is just about ready to fail. I think that I will just replace the front speakers with another cheap pair (like about $4.99), but before I do I thought I'd post this.

 

My current cheapskate system works well for me except that is doesn't have a Master volume, so I have to adjust two separate volumes - one for the front and one for the rear.

 

I wonder if it is worth it to get a sound system with a master volume?