Even the 901 is not exactly unanimously praised. I mean this is their response to the not overly positive review from Stereophile:
Our technical analysis of the theory behind the 901 differs from Stereophile's in a number of respects. Since the final test of a speaker is in its sound with actual program material, we urge Stereophile readers to audition the Bose 901 and then judge for themselves whether Stereophile or the 15 other US and foreign reviews, which draw completely different conclusions, is correct.—Bose
Even back when the 901 came out, there was talk of them buying good reviews. They've really done nothing that you'd call great since then. In fact, they've basically taken the one positive thing from their speakers (messing with directionality and diffusion of the sound) and used that as their focal point for the last 20 years, while using low quality speakers. Its amazing that if they'd spend a bit more and use good quality speakers with their ideas, they'd have some decent sounding stuff that might even be worth the price.
Their headphones are hit and miss as well, and the only thing people actually agree on is that the noise canceling ones are good in that respect, but other than that they aren't all that good. Some of their models are ok if they were priced at $50 or maybe $100, but they're not. Some are just a mess (I've listened to the ones that are really prone to breaking because they used a narrow cheap plastic piece as the headband, and the sound quality is just bad).
Car audio in general isn't very good, so saying the Bose system in your car is decent isn't saying much (my Mom's car has it, and it is ok for a car system, but part of that is because the tweeter is up high so you do get better clarity in the highs and a bit of sparkle than usual, but the rest of the spectrum is nothing to write home about). It is possible to do right, but most people don't want right (BASS!!!!!), and certainly wouldn't spend to have it done right (which would often require extensive modification to get speaker placement to be better).
The worst thing is, because of the high profitability and marketing (getting name recognition), many other companies have or are starting to follow Bose. Even B&W is sadly starting to do the same, although not nearly as bad as Bose in that regard, and they still make the stuff that earned their name respect in the first place.
Personally, I take issue with Bose's marketing (buying reviews, they tried to sue Consumer Reports over a bad review at one time) and the fact that they could make good quality products by just using better parts in their products, which wouldn't even cost much more.
Fact is, most people don't care about good audio and have no clue what it actually sounds like. Its not entirely Bose's fault, they're just pandering to their market, but they did help shape their market, so they're certainly not free from blame either.