Speakers: all-time worst

I believe if I cracked open my speakerphone and smoke detector and mounted their drivers in a shoe box the sound would be more pleasant than any offering from Bose.

Okay, I'll take the bait and go after something other than Bose: PSB. At least the lineup below the Bronze. I've heard these speakers in a variety of setting at different stores and, while they are not godawful, I think they're pretty unimpressive. I really don't get how others can compare them to, say, Monitor Audio or Paradigm or even B&W of comparable prices and pick the PSB. A very dull, artificial sound in my book. Or am I just hearing them in extremely poor setups?

Bose anything!

I agree with several of the respondents. I had a Bose 901 about 14 years ago and the sound was RUBBISH. Unfortunately I fell prey to the MIT hype, and should have known better. At least the experience thought me what NOT to listen for and subsequently I bought a Spendor LS35a, B&W CDM1, and a Contour 3.3 by Dynaudio.

While Bose must take the cake for making uniformly bad speakers for a long time, my nominee is the Wilson Grand Slamm. At an audition lovingly set up by a dealer, I was mainly impressed by the "bleeding ears treble" nature of the speakers. Sounded a bit like a pair of JBL studio monitors, but without the stigma of low cost. If you really want to spend $60K+ on stereo, build a well-designed room and put good-soounding speakers in it!