Evaluating a speaker setup is one of the most difficult tasks in purchasing audio. Firstly, speakers are typically the weakest link in the audio chain. Room acoustics, positioning, furnishings, and other such factors can significantly affect the experience. Also, much of what we hear is subjective - one person's "bright and clean" is another person's "harsh and cold". Couple that with the added variable of commenting on a product's performance vs. it's price, and you're bound to get opinions all over the map.
If you're asking for my opinion, with all due respect to the BOSE afficianodos in the forum here, in my opinion, they're mediocre at best. Their product line creates lots of VOLUME because they're highly efficient, and that's what most people mistake for quality, when listening in a store. But the 'outside' of the range is weak. Even their construction materials are woefully inadequate - PAPER cones on the satellites? You gotta be KIDDING!!! In terms of dynamic range, and finesse, you can do MUCH better elsewhere. What most people hear when they're evaluating BOSE speakers is the echo in their head of the advertisements they've read.
That said, as you become more discerning while listening to various products, you need to listen for finesse. It's a difficult quality to describe, but go to a reseller that vends different brands, and audition them under the SAME conditions, in circumstances similar to your home, without any distractions from pedestrians milling about, turning the volume knobs all the way up on the other receivers and remark "WOW! Look how LOUD it plays!". Listen to a "high-end" set or two, then listen to the BOSE. I think you'll hear what I'm talking about. Dollar for dollar, you can do MUCH better.
The real challenge in finding the 'sweet spot' in audio value is this:
You can always get better by spending more; but can you get the same, or better by spending less?
