Multi-speaker amplifier

["E. Lee Dickinson" <lee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

This is kindof backwards from what we usually do.

A friend has a house that was "prewired for sound."  What the contractor did
was run a bunch of speaker wire from the corner of the living room to the
ceilings of other rooms, with no wall drops for volume controls.

Because of cost and architectural limitations, running new wire is not an
option. Trying to extend speaker runs down the wall for a volume control is
not an option. It's possible, but, I say again, not an option.

I've been looking at various speaker distribution panels, which is close to
what this project needs. What I'd really like is a pretty distribution panel
with 4 or 6 volume knobs on the front, adjusting the volume out to each
speaker group.  I figure I could build such a beast easy enough, with a
stack of volume controls and an impedance matching speaker distro. But I'd
rather find something off-the-shelf, and be done with this project quickly.
Since I can't get local control, I'd like to at least get individual
control.

Any ideas?