I have never liked bose.
BUT, I have to say, I know people that have purchased them, and liked them, because they:
1. Had a High Spousal Approval rating
2. The guys were not knowledgable in the alternatives
3.So, their choices were either Bose or nothing.
Now , back to why I "disagree" with the Bose philosophy.
In the 70's and 80's, the back cover of EVERY STEREO REVIEW had the Bose 901's.
The 901's consisted of 9 FULL RANGE DRIVERS, EIGHT of them facing AWAY from the lister, and one facing TOWARDS the listener.
The concept was, according to Bose, that live music is 89% directed, 11% direct. Their speaker placement was trying to recreate this 89/11 ratio.
My argument was, that:
1. The 89/11 concept only applied to live music, not studio and electronic and amplified music such as rock concerts.
2. There are so many variables in a live performance, where you sit, the walls, the ceiling all different in different locations, # of people size of the room, general acouscics, etc, that there could NOT be one single ratio.
3. WHATEVER the direct/reflected ratio, when the sound hit the microphone, the sound was ALREADY at the proper direct/reflected ratio. There should be NO REASON to reflect the sound that was already reflected!
NOW, I am going to give a third opinion, and that is, that there are (and were) untold thousands of people that bought the Bose, and, in their mind, they bought the best speaker in the world, and they were very happy.
Now, while I would like to educate them and let them know that there are better options than Bose, who am I to take away their happiness?