2. Bouncing the sound off the wall to produce a sense of spaciousness
is aesthetically invalid when the recording itself is supposed to contain
the original acoustics. This effect might be fine for mono recordings,
but it is antithetical to a well-engineered stereo or surround recording.

I'm not going to defend Bose. I think they suck as much as everyone else
around here. I do question this particular statement though. If listening
room reflections were "antithetical to a well-engineered stereo or surround
recording", wouldn't there be more people arguing for anechoic listening
rooms and control rooms?

Excellent question! I don't have time to go into a detailed explanation, but
here's part of it.

A completely anechoic listening room would be unpleasant. On the other hand, too
much "liveness" colors the sound and blurs the image -- uncontrolled and
inappropriate room reflections _are_ "antithetical to a well-engineered stereo
or surround recording".

The current opinion is that the walls around and a bit in front of the speakers
should be damped to minimize reflections, while the listening area and the walls
behind it can remain on the live side. This minimizes the effect of the room on
the speakers, while allowing a blend of reflections near the listener, which
(because the arrival times are much longer) degrades the sound less.