system bell volume goes up when I turn up the speakers

[Clint Harshaw]

When I turn up the volume on my external speakers, the system bell 
volume goes up -- which can be really startling!! On my FC1 box, the 
system bell comes out the internal case-integrated speaker.

Is there a slider that I can adjust that will "unlink" the pcspkr volume 
from the volume on my external speakers? Or is there some other sound 
adjustment I can do to remedy this? Is it happening to anyone else?

Thanks,
Clint