Not exactly the same thing but my AV receiver has a mode I think called "5 way stereo" or something like that. Essentially, you tell it how many speakers you have and it spreads the stereo image among all of them.
I have some very nice L/C/R speakers - Hales T1 monitors and a big Hales Transcendence Center channel. I'd spread the stereo image among the L/C/R and it was super enjoyable. Mostly it seemed to had a big thickening "heft" to the stereo sound, it just all sounded more solid, weighty and substantial.