Changing Emacspeak default settings and making them stick?

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Where are the appropriate files to fix these three issues? No matter how 
many times I change it universally, emacspeak always comes up saying 
"capital capital capital capital capital capital capital..." Its default 
espeak voice is not US and the accent makes it hard to understand. The 
volume is two low. These defaults are driving me nuts! Thanks.