In my home theater, with Klipsch Forte IVs on either side of a Sony 85' OLED, and sitting just 10 feet away, I get very direct and well focused sound, but a very narrow and flat sound stage, for music. In multi-channel HDMI audio, the same for the front sound stage, and noticeable gaps with sound transitions from side to side.
I recently added front wide surrounds. Initially, this was very disappointing. The imaging in stereo was smeared, on the right and left, with the speakers directed at the center listening position. Then I redirected the front wides towards the walls (away from the the center position). Wow, a wider sound stage, the sound with music was a live experience, and with multi-channel, Atmos for example, transitions were seamless.
This is entirely a matter of my room (and ears), but for me these front wides really do matter!
