I have a Dell with windows XP and a SoundMax card My speakers crackle

the speakers may be blown, bad soldering connections,
have you tried headphones, what does that sound like?
have you tried other speakers?
have you tried lowering the master computer volume, and raising the speaker volume?

Not yet. I will try those and report back tomorrow. Thank you.

It's not unusual for solder connections inside the speaker to cause this. Sometimes the factory leaves some cold connections.

OK I tried the volume thing and it seems to have worked. Thank you very much. Before that suggestion I had uninstalled and reinstalled the audio driver several times. This was so much simpler AND IT WORKED!!! I'm a happy camper now!