setup is part of it. it's like saying dslrs help your photos magically become better. if you setup the sound system properly I bet you 95% of people won't be able to tell.
with regards to the photo thing, yeah there are defining features like depth of field, but unless you pixel peep which really isn't photography I can pull off the same images on my S95 as my Canon 7D.
It depends on their motivation to even care.
Proper sound stage setup is crucial, I absolutely agree, and can help make bad audio acceptable, especially if you are more visually oriented and get sucked into the picture more than the reproduced sound stage.
Many people would be able to tell apart the audio if you guided them along.
Honestly, some people will probably prefer the Bose (depending on what it is compared to). They might like a "tinny" sound without much warmth. Maybe their ears have terrible frequency response to midrange frequencies (this is regarding the small cube speakers - car audio can be different. I've heard bose car audio that I actually liked - but they were at least 4-5" cones/woofers with a separate tweeter component, larger than most Bose home audio products)
As for telling apart the audio, as I alluded to earlier, some people just won't be paying attention enough, even if you guide them through a test. They might sound remarkably different, the two test kits, and someone won't notice. Especially if it's a complex compilation of sounds utilizing spatial sound stage effects all over the place. To the "uninitiated" that and that alone might be what draws attention, and they might even marvel at the whole experience. And when it comes time to decide, they default to bias and product image.
Use selected sound samples, like some classical music, or better yet some clean but complex rock: any horns/wind-type instrument in the mix definitely helps, otherwise good mix of high guitar notes, clearly present bass and clean drums presents a lot of opportunity to sample a full frequency response with minimal spatial imaging. Repeat the exact same audio section on both sets (don't use the first minute for one set, and then the second minute of a song for the other set). Movies are great and better to demonstrate spatial imaging and frequency response throughout each speaker in a set, especially for matched surround sets or even for mixed sets (different model lines or even different brands for front/center/side/rear/surround/sub), but samples can be hit and miss. With movies and the wrong samples, the "uninitiated" will be lost in the experience and not pick up on the cues that spell out major differences.
An easy way to tell with center speakers, at least, is vocal selections (movie or music) that don't have much other distractions going on. The difference between a shitty center and better center speaker can be almost painfully obvious when reproducing voices. At least, assuming you present very different center speakers. Compare to similar speakers, it might not be much different sounding; present two vastly different speakers, if they don't pick up on a difference (picking "better" or "worse" not being the point here), they should be smacked upside the head with the heaviest textbook you can find, if not with the lower quality speaker itself.
😉 (chucking it like a baseball might be a bit much, but it's up to your discretion
😛)
Point being - for a good test/demonstration, you have to be crafty in removing them from the experience and training them to focus on frequencies.
If the physical sound stage is the same for both speaker sets, how well it reproduces the "best experience" in design/layout does not matter. If you compare two sets but they have two different setups, it's not an equal comparison and does not accomplish the task (with honesty).
Some high-end speaker shops will do that. The best brands will be in one sound-proofed demo room, mid-range in another, their lowest end in another. Comparing across vast price ranges can be a mixed bag, because the sound stage might not be as efficient, or even remotely optimal, in a particular room.
Any shop that is devious like that is probably more apt to group them by profit margin - lowest margin in a less-efficient demo room, highest margins in the laser-measured and acoustically perfect demo room.
😛
To be fair, I have no idea if many, if any at all, actually stoop to that level. Typically the worst case scenario in my mind is a shifty salesman if anything.
😉
