What brand is most recognized by non-audiophiles?

THey just don't give a hoot about traditional audiophiles. They tend to be more forward thinking and targeting the masses in regards to their products.

that's right! 'coz us old audiophiles are a cranky, nit-picky lot that turn our noses up if the audio item does not cost $$$$$. We say in our own minds " if it's not expensive then how it could sound the best?". Just the kind of words that audiophile equipment manuf wanted here to mark-up their gear to ludicrous values!
Bose realized quickly that $300 for a Bose Wave system from the masses would fetch more revenue that making, say, a $600 system & selling it to a niche audiophile market. The masses would appreciate the "better" sound more willingly than the audiophiles who needed convincing that Bose would compete with their existing hi-faluting systems.....
Piss as much as you want on Bose systems, their marketing dept got it right. You have to give the Devil his due.....

My response to the OP's question would be (besides Bose)
* Adcom
* Polk Audio
* Boston Acoustics
* Cambridge Audio
* Sony
* Onkyo

these are brands readily available at Best Buy, Tweeter, Circuit City (when they were in biz), Crutchfield, HHGregg, and J&R. That's where a lot of the masses shop.

BW, that's just it--my ears tell me that the Bose Wave does not compete with my system (which is rather modest but well-chosen IMO).

I'm not saying the Bose isn't better than a lot of other stuff at that price point--just don't fool yourself as to what you are and aren't hearing. To me the difference between the Bose and a well-made system is night-and-day.

Klipsch - from older people I talk to. I don't know if Klipsch is considered an audiophile speaker now but they used to cater to the audiophile market back in the 80's when high end audio was more of a main stream market.

But as Bombaywalla said about Bose, Klipsch found more money to be made in the mass market. The purpose of a business is to make money. The more of it the better and that is best done by:
1) Selling to a larger number of people. Even more so than making super expensive components. Who makes more money, Bose or Wilson?
2) Focus on marketing more than solid engineering. This is true even in the high-end market. Just look at B&W. They differentiate themselves with visible technology that may not even matter but convince laymen that it does. Bright yellow Kevlar drivers, tweeter on top, curved cabinets. People look at that and say hey, no one else does that. B&W has people convinced those visual cues make for good sound. So if no one else does those things, no one else can sound as good. Ka-ching, sale is made. Bash on B&W all you want but how many brands from the 80's are gone and who has survived?

If you're going to make your sales case based on fine nuances (to the masses that is), like paper vs. poly cone drivers, good luck. Even audiophiles can't agree on that.

Crown Royal. HaHaHa