Help me setup Sound on my HTPC

[vorius]

Hello,

I currently have a HTPC on a WinXP box with sageTV. I have audio coming out of my motherboard's internal audio into an old Sony audio receiver, which channels it out to 7 speaker setup.

But I'm completely unhappy with my sound setup.

Primarily I am finding it unreasonably difficult to control volume.

I've got Windows main volume, audio components software's volume settings and then finally the receiver itself.

Sometimes I watch a channel and the volume is just too high, even if I lower it all the way down (one notch above mute). So then I have to lower the knob on the receiver itself. Other time I watch a video and the opposite happens. It feels like my range of volume that I can control via SageTV is far too narrow. Not sure why...

Also, I am planning to move my PC to the basement and get the SageTV HD extender box to replace it. Will this then impact my sound setup? Can I still output to my receiver via digital out?

I wonder if some of my problems are due to the receiver itself, maybe its just old and doesnt support digital out too well? If I were to get a new receiver, any particular features I should aim for?