I think I have a music player based on a WRTSL54GS finally working, but there is still two issues left, one of which I can leave to later.  I've had trouble finding a a lot of the answers, so I hope this is something so simple I'm overlooking it.

When I boot the device, it detects the speakers and everything is set up just fine.  If, however, I remove the speakers and plug them back in, /dev/sound/dsp and /dev/sound/mixer disappear and all I have is /dev/sound/unknown.  If I use lsusb, I get the same listing I always do, so I suspect the USB drivers are detecting the device when it's plugged back in (they catch when it's gone).  That makes me think it's the sound system, or ALSA, that isn't detecting the speakers when they're reconnected.  I've looked through /etc/init.d to see if there was an obvious startup script for sound but there isn't one and I can identify the other services the files start and stop.

What do I need to do to make sure speakers are detected if they are unplugged and either plugged back in or replaced with a new set?

Thanks!