I know it's not the sound card. My current speakers work just fine from it. Asus Essense STX, the thing is AMAZING! I plugged my Ultimate Ears into it the other day and wow, just wow. ANYWAY..
The first time around I thought I made a correct diagram working from diagrams I saw on here and it still didn't work with a radio shack cable. That's when I ordered Mr. Clean's. I'll probably just get a multimeter sometime and try again. With this ice storm it will probably be a few days.
Just want to make sure this is known to that it was buggy BEFORE any of the DIY fixes. The cable had to be turned completely and taped to the back of the amp for any sound to work but a sub "pop." The sound quality only got worse too.