I had a Sherbourn and it had "off axis". These speakers were supposed to be placed further to the front right and left, or just slightly in front of the front right and left up further out - like a frist set of surrounds. My set-up was/is with M80s, 150 center, and 2 pairs of QS8s with an EP600. I used a pair of M2s for the "Off Axis" channel. This channel was derived from Front Left/Surround Left & Front Right/Surround Right.
How did it sound? Well, it more noticable with films that had lush scores or musicals. Phantom of the Opera was incredible. It opened the soundstage and had the music filling the entire front wall. No longer was the sound confined to three front speakers. It actually made it seem broader and wider. I guess the effect was a result of what it derived from the soundtrack due to the way it was matrixed.
When I sold the Sherbourn and got an Anthem it had no "Presence Channe" so I've been using the pair of M2s for a center and no longer use my 150 at all.
The idea of a presence might have come from the SDDS theatrical sound system by Sony. Unlike Dolby or DTS it used more speaker behind the screen and has a completely differnt set-up. Which means if you seen a film in the theatre in SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound) you will never hear it at home the same way due to the very different speaker set-up. No film is transfered onto any home video format in at system and because of it there is not home decoder made. This explains why Sony was slow in releasing DTS soundtracks in the begining of DVD. They had hoped DVD would adopt not only Dolby Digital (which was accepted as a sound format standard) but would also accept Sony's SDDS. It didn't of course and DTS won the second place to Dolby Digital.
- Scott
