I see two issues with this logic, though. First, it's my understanding that the reason theaters use an array of speakers to create a diffuse soundstage is because so many of the seats in a theater are in non-optimal positions. IE, if a large theater used direct radiating speakers to create a more accurate soundstage then it would sound great for people sitting in the center of the theater, but really lousy for people who are sitting in the back corner. To me this is different from many home-theaters, where there are not any bad seats. In my home-theater a few of the seating positions might be slightly off center, but I don't have anybody sitting in the back corner. :) So in this case, if I can get a more accurate soundstage with direct-radiating speakers, shouldn't I?
My second issue is more of a question really - how are the soundtracks on DVD's mixed, compared to the soundtracks mixed for the theater? Are they mixed with discrete channels in mind?
I think my living room is better suited to direct-radiating anyway, because I cannot put the surrounds on the side walls; they have to go in the back corners, toed-in towards the seating position. This seams to work pretty well with the direct-radiating speakers that I currently have, but I'm not so sure how dipole/quadpole speakers would work in this situation. I realize this may not be the completely optimal speaker placement, but I'm limited by using my living room - dedicated theater will have to wait until my next house, several years down the road.
