Comment 13 for bug 447844

Has Daniel T Chen rightly noted my issue had nothing to do with kubuntu, it was a problem with the way MPD (Music Player Daemon ) was configured which allowed the application to monopolize my sound output. (MPD is a 3rd party application which is not maintained by ubuntu. ) Anyway I was able to fix my issue by correcting the faulty settings (following DT Chen's tip).

@ Dima Ryazanov I don't know if you are running a clean install of kubuntu ( or you installed the kubuntu-desktop from a gnome install) because pulse audio is not installed on a fresh kubuntu, kde uses phonon with a xine backend. Out of the Box kubuntu doesn't come with pulse audio installed. Sound is very fine now on my laptop. everything works as it should even skype.