nick, it is really not the amount of speakers that matter to achieve surround sound but your processor in the surround sound receiver that creates the sound. Of course frequency range of your speakers is also important to create the illusion of surround sound. It might be possible to come up with a few things to simulate it by utilizing multiple mixing boards which allow for adjustment of reverb, echo and few other things but again it is not the amount of speakers. 10 speakers on a Stereo is still stereo;-) Here are a few sites that deal with it and are a good resource. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_Surro...
http://myonkyoreceivers.com/surround-sou...
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/sur...
Hope this makes sense and good luck to you....