Properly adjusting/configuring computer audio volume

[Jand3rson]

So this has kind of been driving me nuts, and I'm wondering if a few audiophiles can help me out. I just got a new laptop not too long ago, and just last week, a new set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX speakers, with a killer sub. These speakers are incredible. But I'm making myself absolutely nuts figuring out how I want to adjust and control the volume.

On the speakers themselves, there's a Subwoofer Min/Max dial, and a Main Volume Min/Max dial.
On my laptop, I have the RealTek HD Audio Manager.
And in Winamp, I have a volume control slider.

Currently, I have the Subwoofer dial on the speakers at about 1/3, same with the Main Volume.
The volume slider in RealTek is about 20-25%.
The volume slider in Winamp is at 70%.

My question is, what should I have each of these set to, and what should I be using to control the overall volume for the best sound?

[E30 Wagen]

I don't think it matters, really.

The way I have mine set is the Realtek slide bar volume at max, which is connected to my 5.1 receiver. I'm using the digitial output (optical). I primarily use the receiver as the main volume control since it has a remote and I have the receiver a bit out of reach. If i'm too lazy to adjust the volume with the remote, I just use the volume adjustment on whatever program i'm using, ie; youtube, windows media, netflix, divx...

edit, forgot to mention that I have my subwoofer, an old 10" RCA, just set at however loud I want it to be with the volume dial on the back of it. I also the use the adjustments in windows media player, since I use that to play music. I think it should all just depend on you want your system to sound.

[Raxe]

I usually keep the volume on the source (in this case the realtek) at ~60% percent, reason being if the source is quiet then you're relying on external amplifiers to boost the volume and potentially degrade the final product. However too loud of a source (80+) and the external adjustments are useless, which is bad because they're the most convenient. I keep the external set around 50% and use the application volume for frequent adjustments. That way you have a lot of play in both controls.

Then again I may be full of shit, but it makes sense in my world.

[TurboJake]

I've always set my computer to max possibly volume.
Then listening to really loud music/movie, adjusted the speakers to the loudest I would/they can possibly go.

Then use the computers mixer to adjust volume, as it's always on the taskbar. I've never experienced any clipping from this.

This would be completely different if I were running an actual receiver. But this is a speaker system intended for the computer.