It seems that I was able to fix this in my computer by accident. (unless there was an update that fixed this) Executing banshee no longer lowers the volume.
What I did:
1) Turn on the volume (level up)
2) Open Banshee from the Sound Menu
3) Play with the sound menu (by changing the volume, but do not change it to zero) WHILE banshee is still loading.
4) **Banshee loads without changing the volume to zero.**
5) Close banshee.
6) Open Banshee again and verify.
**Sound volume should be as you set**
It seems that I was able to fix this in my computer by accident. (unless there was an update that fixed this) Executing banshee no longer lowers the volume.
What I did:
1) Turn on the volume (level up)
2) Open Banshee from the Sound Menu
3) Play with the sound menu (by changing the volume, but do not change it to zero) WHILE banshee is still loading.
4) **Banshee loads without changing the volume to zero.**
5) Close banshee.
6) Open Banshee again and verify.
**Sound volume should be as you set**