In an ideal scenario, all five (or seven) speakers would be identical so that they are all "voiced" exactly the same - producing the seamless soundfield that lanion mentions. As a sound effect or other bit of audio data moves from one speaker to another, the playback would sound the same and thus be more immersive and convincing. In reality, getting identical speakers all the way around is a very difficult task, especially in systems that have to share a space with other day-to-day living functions (such as when the theater is in a living room). That's one reason that speaker manufacturers routinely design families of speakers that share similar design traits (same drivers being the most obvious example) - even if you can't use the same model of speaker in each position, you can at least use speakers that will blend as well as possible and thus preserve that soundfield as seamlessly as possible.
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gonk
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