I have never heard Bose speakers on a really good system, ie amp, preamp, source etc. Plus I have not heard any recent Bose home speaker models. SO I will reserve judgement somewhat.
Bose 901s are only somewhat more expensive than back in the day when they were objects of lust for many. They cost way less than most current top of the line high end speakers. Fair comparisons should be apples and apples.
Over the holidays, I stayed at a fairly luxurious Manhattan hotel. I noticed an array of specialized elongated white Bose wall mount speaker columns providing the music in the lounge, which itself was elongated, 3-4 stories tall and all marble and glass. I doubt this hotel skimped on getting good sound (for most) in that room in that the venue including the lounge is quite high end, even by Manhattan standards. They did the job pretty well, at least for casual background listening. The system must have been professionally installed to get sound that good in a room like that, which should have been echo city but in fact was quite the opposite. I was surprised to be somewhat impressed and able to enjoy the sound (something I can rarely say about sound on most lounge/bar venues I have experienced in recent years) though it was nothing like what one might hear at home with a more full range setup. So maybe Bose is not all bad for certain applications. I have heard lots of bad Bose speaker sound over the years. Not only Bose but other "mid-fi" type brands over the years. Gotta compare apples and apples in all fairness. Also I have heard their on ear headphones and though I thought the build quality was less than stellar, the sound seemed competitive at teh price point perhaps.
