How could surround sound be used in an audiophile system?

I am an audiophile with a dilemma. I do not like two channel stereo, because the speakers are only 45 degrees apart. This gives me a bad case of tunnel sound. I realize that high end systems have excellent sound dispersal, but only within 45 degrees. That is not enough spread if one is listening to orchestral music. Separation of the speakers gives better sound dispersal, but it leaves a hole in the center. I could place an equally sized speaker in the center powered by an amplifier of equal quality. The problem is that there is no such animal as a three channel preamp with a mono center channel. Next, I would like to use back speakers to smooth out the sound of the front outside speakers. While the three channel stereo has better dispersal, the sound ends too abruptly at the corners of the room. This now would require a five channel preamp (two left signals, two right signals, and mono center).

I know, I know, this sounds like home theater. However, home theater processors are notorious for distorting sound as they "interpret" where different parts of the two channel signals are positioned. Even more distortion is added as the processor adds reverberation.

My goal is to have a pure sounding system that fills the whole room with the undistorted sound of an orchestra. I would like to be able to pin point every instrument in the orchestra from one side of the room to the other. What I need is a five channel preamp with a mono center channel. The problem is that this preamp does not exist, and never will. The artificial sound of five channel home theater is here to stay. This is really depressing. This is a real dilemma. Does anyone have any ideas how to solve this problem?