Audio solutions for the final show.

Today I’ve been trying to figure out more about how the audio will work within my final installation. At the moment I’m thinking of five screens all with their own single audio tracks that will be played at a low volume through cylindrical tubes, making the sound very directional. To hear each sound the viewer will have to position him or herself directly in front of the LCD screen that is associated with that sound. So I’ve been trying to figure out how to amplify the individual sound channels to enable me to control and mix the volume of each speaker, and at an affordable equipment cost. So should I butcher computer speakers and link them to a cheap or borrowed 8-track mixer, taking advantage of the integrated small amps within the speaker units. Should I look for an integrated 8 channel in 8 channels out amplifier (all the ones I’ve found are very expensive!)? I could use a Dolby 5.1 amplifier although it seems that all the channels are not equally amplified (2 main channels have more power than the back speakers or the centre one). The last option that I can find at the moment is to source an 8 track mixer and have separate small and cheap in line amps (without volume control. Control will be from the mixer). The Dolby 5.1 and last option are available cheaply from Maplins. I’m going to go this afternoon and collect a 4-track mixer and buy one of the basic in line amps and do some tests. I’ll also make a basic directional speaker.