losing windows volume, fixed with DX game?

[ilkhan]

I remember several months ago using just a sliver of volume and having it be loud enough for me. However, lately Ive been requiring a lot more volume (on the controls anyway) to get the same volume out of the speakers. I loaded up TA and the volume about tripled (for everything, not just TA. Winamp jumped a bunch too). Any idea would could be causing this?
Any other specific info needed?