Murph you are right. It is an odd concept and I know of no receiver/processor that does that. That's why I discount that article which continues to cause confusion. Florian hasn't figured out that what applied in 2002 doesn't apply today.
As it applies to the FR and FL channels only, dolby digital also replicates the LFE track into those channels. That redirected LFE bass would be taken out so as not to duplicate it in the sub twice. When the standard was developed not everyone had subwoofers and many people had full range floorstanders hence why the LFE exists in the front channels. I doubt there is any loss of sound on any channel on any of the modern receivers and processors we own. The bigger concern is this weird large + sub setting which has the same LFE coming from speakers and subs and messes with phase and FR.
