I dunno... I think Dean doesn't do justice to my dislike for Bose.
My take is this: Bose might sound wonderful to the masses, especially to those who appreciate the WAF they offer. And that's fine, if that's how they market themselves. But that's not how they market themselves.
They have tried, largely successfully, to be first-in-mind when consumers are looking for the "Ultimate Sound". And though they don't achieve that goal on paper nor in-room, they price themselves so high as to make customers believe that Bose has some magical way of breaking the laws of physics and sounding better than the big systems while maintaining that small physical size. But, it's not true.
I have no issue when people buy Bose and know exactly what they're getting. Hey, in some rooms, even I would like a system with speakers so small they're virtually unseen.
But when people are being "sold" that the products are "audio nirvana", when testing shows it clearly is not as good as much less expensive systems, then I call them on that.
I believe Bose uses deceptive marketing practices to sell over-priced and under-performing equipment because they fool the customer into believing they are the "best out there" and worthy of the high price.
And, to me, deceptive marketing is never forgivable.
(Insert the word "Monster" wherever the word "Bose" is used above, and re-read please)
