From my experience and from quite a bit of research, here's my 2 cents:

There are 2 types of environment which should be considered:

1. Home Theater (Movies, TV)
In this situation the source of the sound is generally not the most accurate, therefore imaging is not that big a factor. Rather, tonal balance is more important. Thus, Bose will work here. Bose have the advantages for it being very sensitive, also the sub is very loud (but not very accurate).

2. Music.
This is where Bose simply does not perform. Because of its small size, it simply could not reproduce music accurately. It's loud, but not accurate. For this environment it is best to have floorstanding speakers.