Configurable (novel) multi channel surround installation - perhaps hired help?

Hi all,
I am very much a maxmsp novice - I generally work inside of nuendo, pt, live etc.
However, I project I have going on right now means I need to go outside of my comfort zone, and explore maxmsp.
It is for a (series) of sound installations involving custom, very non standard speaker configurations from stereo up to 16 channels.
I've been looking at various tools - exploring vbap and ambisonic solutions - and really, not sure what I'm after has been built.
I sure know I'm not in a position (time mainly) to build it myself.

I'm needing to be able to take mono (or stereo) sounds, and position them in the custom surround fields - and move them about - perhaps using vectors - perhaps x-y data (seems easier) over time. Each sound file could have the x/y data associated with it - or it could be generated separately.

But most importantly is the ability to be able to take the whole project, and relocate it with a different system. Sure - some things will need to be "re-positioned" - but certainly not starting from scratch.

Are such tools available (I've not come across anything YET - I've been searching a couple of days. I've got close, but nothing that seems to fit my particular use scenario)

Is there anyone interested in developing such tools - which I may be able to get some budget towards? If you are in sydney or melbourne - even better, but really, skype is pretty good for collaboration these days.

All thoughts will be VERY much appreciated.