Reply to Panning & EDM?

let's get down and dirty with some advanced mixing techniques/discussions. so here's the theory for those unfamiliar with panning:

most of us here that are only DJs know of panning as shifting the audio from left to right (talking simply stereo and skipping 5.1 audio, we'll get to that later), and maybe have dabbled with it a few times. for anyone who has gotten into producing, or studied tracks, you may have noticed that some instruments are panned differently than others throughout the song (guitars on right, bass on left, drums center, etc), or maybe a cool effect that shifted from one side to the other, giving a "sweeping" effect.

when dealing with a lot of instruments in a song, you may find that putting everything in the "center" makes the mix sound crowded. with every instrument fighting for that center position, things can get muddy. just like if you saw a band live on stage, you don't see their amps/PAs huddled together next to/on top of each other, they're spread out over the stage. but what about EDM? sure, the drums are usually going to be dead center, they are the lifeline, and to give them more to one side of the dancefloor would be unfair, no? however, hi-hats can fluctuate to give a little motion, but whatever drives the beat should be equally spread throughout the stereo spread.

but this got me believeing: what elements can really be spread out over the spread and still sit as properly in the mix as they should? i've mentioned that hi-hats can be given an occasional throw to either side, and snares could even alternate sides (i'm believeing more in terms of dubstep, if it's hard to get a mental image of this), but this leaves some crucial elements still fighting for that center spot: the "rhythm-driver" (bass drum, or whatever it may be), bassline, melody, etc. can these elements still sit centered and not be too crowded? the issue is finding a spread that sounds right for EDM. when i picture a bassline panned left and a melody panned right i just don't see it sounding good at all. anyone have a good method of panning this type of music?

on the subject of 5.1, a quick question: if i had something panned in a way that only 5.1 could position correctly, how is it panned when played on a stereo system? i'd assume the 5.1 system has a measurement for how far left and right the sound is panned, so the stereo signal would just read this and disregard the extra information?

any help/advice you guys can give is greatly appreciated.