FULL PRODUCT VERSION :
Java Plug-in 1.6.0-rc

ADDITIONAL OS VERSION INFORMATION :
Windows XP (also tested on Windows Vista)

EXTRA RELEVANT SYSTEM CONFIGURATION :
IE7, Firefox2.0, Mozilla 1.7.13

A DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM :
Using a variety of browsers with the jre1.6 plugin our audio applet support no longer plays correctly. The audio is heard as a loud pitched screeching. Our audio/applet has been working successfully in all previous versions of the jre 1.3-1.5+.

The audio format is PCM_SIGNED, 22Khz.

The audio driver on my machine is SoundMax Digital audio.

I can provide a URL with the playback mechanism if necessary.

STEPS TO FOLLOW TO REPRODUCE THE PROBLEM :
Play a PCM_SIGNED audio format using standard java sound interface with the 1.6 plugin in any of the supported browsers (IE, Mozilla, FireFox).

EXPECTED VERSUS ACTUAL BEHAVIOR :
EXPECTED -
The playback audio to be identical to that of the 1.5 jre.
ACTUAL -
The end result is a high pitched screeching noise. The audio is unintelligable.

ERROR MESSAGES/STACK TRACES THAT OCCUR :
No error messages appear in the java console.

REPRODUCIBILITY :
This bug can be reproduced always.

---------- BEGIN SOURCE ----------
    /**
     * An 1st order filter, allowing you to upsample to any rate (not just
     * a multiple of the original rate.
     *
     * This upsampling algorithm seems to provide better quality than the other
     * upsampler method. I'm keeping them both in here for know for reference.
     */
    private short [] upsampler2(short [] sArray) {

        double oldRate = 8000.0; // 8Khz
        double newRate = 22000.0; // 22Khz

        // calculate the total playing time of the original audio
        double time = (double) sArray.length/oldRate;

        // calculate the number of frames needed for the new sound sample
        int newNumFrames = (int) Math.round(time * newRate);
        int oldNumFrames = sArray.length;


        short [] outArray = new short[newNumFrames];

        // for each frame in the output array
        for (int i = 0; i < newNumFrames; i++) {
            double t = (double) i/ newRate;
            int nearest = (int) ( t * oldRate );

            short sample = 0;
            if( nearest < oldNumFrames ) {
                sample = sArray[nearest];
            }

            // for adding samples this sample is proportionally
            // between the nearest and the next
            double error = ( t * oldRate ) - (double) nearest;
            int diff = 0;
            if( nearest+1 < oldNumFrames ) {
                diff = sArray[nearest+1] - sample;
            }
            sample += (int) Math.round( (double) diff * error );

            outArray[i] = sample;
        }
        return outArray;
  }
---------- END SOURCE ----------

CUSTOMER SUBMITTED WORKAROUND :
We have found no workaround other than rolling back to an earlier jre.
I have tested the 1.6 JDK inside of JBuilder and it works as expected. It is only the plugin that seems to be broken.