This subject makes a lot of audio purists howl with rage. I would say that the majority of consumers would be quite happy with a surround system from Bose, but they are not great quality.

The Lifestyle badge covers it quite nicely. A Bose system is simple to set up, unobtrusive, and the slick appearance makes it a compelling product to people, particularly those trying to get "wife approved" products into the living room. to be fair they also provide a reasonable surround experience which is far better than a standard TV's speakers.

On the other hand, the satellite speakers can't go nearly as low as larger speakers, so the subwoofer has to fill the gap, this means the subwoofer is outputting "directional" frequencies, frequencies which the human ear can locate the source of. Frequencies around 100-200Hz would normally be produced by the surround speakers have to be handled by the subwoofer which can have a disconcerting effect. Listen out for male voices in particular to note this effect.

You can get surround speakers and amplifiers of a similar or better quality for far less money. Buyers of Bose products are typically not driven by price and buy into the lifestyle side of things.