I don't think that there is anything random about what Bose designed. Change the angle, change the distance from the walls or turn them around and the desired effects are lost. Placement of the 901 is absolutely critical with very little adjustment available for different situations. Most people have never had them in the correct placement or had enough power to do them justice. Rest assured that a great deal of research went into their simple design. Dr. Bose is a highly regarded professor and either did or still does teach at MIT. He's ahead of most of us.
I do not want to alter a recording either, this is why I don't like equalizers and I have no tone controls. This leaves everything up to the recording engineers to get it right for me. If adding depth to the sound by strategically bouncing it out of corners is wrong, I guess I like being wrong. It creates a 3 dimensional image of sound better than anything that I have ever heard. The main flaw is a general weakness in the upper treble and a slight weakness in bass. They will reach 22hz which is lower than most high end speaker systems with 8 inch or even 12 inch woofers. If you ask me, it sounds better in person than it does on paper. I haven't read any of this stuff in years and I realize that the vast majority of audiophiles hate 901's. They can't do everything well but they do some things extremely well, mainly create a huge spatial sound experience.
Anyway, I'd take a pair of 901's over any HT system or multichannel system that I've ever heard anywhere, store demo or in a home. Overall, I'm happier yet with my AR9's, I just miss that depth of the 901. This is why I say that I'd like to build something that can do both accuracy and create the three dimensional quality achieved through direct reflection.
Don't worry, you won't change my mind. I'm old and stubborn and I've heard lots and lots of music live and recorded for my entire 51 years of life.
Bill