Integrated sound problem with SoundMAX....

I was told that the Intergrated Audio on my Asus board would be good enough for music etc but not gaming. The sound has always been horrible and now I find that SoundMAX wants to be deleted and re-installed although the sound was horrible before this.

My desktop speakers with subwoofer "were" fine but now I do not know if the speakers are shot or if it is the integrated sound.

I can buy new speakers; I can buy a sound card but I don't want to change things if I don't have a clue as to what to rule out.

Is there a setting that I don't know about? Is the integrated audio louzy? I didn't think my speakers would go from "not great" to terrible in 3 months.

Any thoughts?

Thank you

Elliot