Matt:
Unless things have recently changed in movie theater design, If you were to remove the screen at a movie theater, essentially what you would see is three(LCR) vertical, usually horn driven speakers, plus a long tubular subwoofer. Speakers along the side and rear are direct driven. There are several only because of the size of the space and the number of seats. Once again, with reference to the THX parameters for HT design, they recommended dipole or bipole speakers for the surround and rear since those speakers simulate the multiple speaker layout in a movie theater, however, obviously you don't need all those speakers because the space is, of course, much smaller. Axiom has carried that bipole/dipole design to the next level by having speakers in the QS4s/8s putting out sound in all directions, that is why they are so forgiving to set-up.
Be careful not to do too much over analysis about this since in a home environment with Axiom's offerings you have the tools to easily duplicate the sound if not improve on the actual movie theater experience and I am sure others will confirm what I say.
20 years of playing around with this stuff gives me some insight along with spending a ton of money along the way to find all this out.
