Well, close to pure hype. Bose has always made good speakers, but you will not likely find them any serious audiophile's setup.
Yeah, they do charge a premium, but if you shop around, you can find some deep discounts. And they are good speakers - sure to give years of good service. And the company was an innovator in producing BIG quality sound out of little boxes. They are just not as good (in terms of fidelity) as the hype would suggest - I guess that means they have an outstanding marketing/PR department.
Well, the original 901s were, and still are excellent speakers (though many, including yours truly, felt the dispersion was too wide) but sadly, IMO, Bose started living off their name, instead of continuing to innovate.