There's a reason why Bose sell, and not because of sound quality. It's just advertising and the brand name. Ask anyone in the street what is the best audio company, and they'll say Bose. They've never heard them, but seen them in lots of magazines, so must be great.
From my demos, they sound terrible. I have a Rotel 980 and B&W 601's, cost around £400, and compared them to Lifestyle range including their flagship range. The Bose sound is a joke. Bass is big whoompy distorted mess, and the soundstage is a horrid bipole effect for all channels (I like bipoles/dipoles but only for sides/surrounds) For front/centre it just ruins it. Basically like a cheap PC sat-sub system, no midrange, lacking in treble, whoompy/boomy bass and limited frequency response overall.
For there top of the range Lifestyle system £4000, I would pay £400. When I told the shop owner it sounds awful, he asked me what I have (Audiolab reference kit) and he says my gear is ****