1) The original, IMO, sounded fairly sweet, well balanced, and did not give offense. I never heard it do really deep bass, or full dynamics (i.e. with instantaenous peaks at over 100 dB to 110 dB, like some of the big JBLs of that time, e.g., the S8R could; big orchestral recordings sometimes need that, IMO
2) The originals, and vintage improvements 4311 & 4312, sounded great... but not as startlingly clear as the Klipsch La Scala... They certainly had greater clarity than the typical bookshelf speakers of the age. 3) With a spec for sensitivity of 90 dB/2.83v (1 watt into 8 Ohms)/1 meter... 4) I was puzzled when at Tower Records (remember them?) the guy in the classical room and I were listening to a violin concerto on some 4311s or 4312s, and he said, "Of course. we can't tell anything on these terrible speakers." There's no pleasing everyone.
1) In a secondary system I have a set of 'late model' L100. Sometimes I think they sound horrible. Thin and weak. Other times I think they add 'magic' to the music, and I wouldn't ever get rid of them. I think my ears change from day to day. For sure, L100 (and the 4311 series) need a particular placement to approach anything like balanced sound. What loudspeaker doesn't? For many, turning down the 'presence' control will be best. I use them with presence set to flat, and the treble up two notches. It works for me. Keep in mind that the 12 inch woofer is a low mid range, so a sub could help.
2) I have a set of LaScala, and find the sound compelling. Much better in a larger space than any 'box' speaker I've dealt with. No one here on ASR thinks that way. One of us is wrong.
The 'typical' well-regarded bookshelf speaker of the age was an acoustic suspension design. Think AR or KLH. I could never understand them. Miles Davis advertised AR loudspeakers. But I think he was not sincere. Miles knew what a horn sounded like, and it didn't sound like an AR loudspeaker. In the ad, Miles was giving the 'fist'. I had to laugh when I saw that. The folks in New England (Aczel called them the 'polite' crowd) probably had no idea. Tom Wolfe or Marshall McLuhan could have clued them in. But by then it might have been Teledyne calling the shots. You sell your company to a large faceless conglomerate, and things are bound to change--usually not for the better.
3) Julian Hirsch, without specifying specifically frequency, measured sensitivity at 96 dB/watt/meter (I'm doing this from memory, so I could have it all wrong). That seems a bit generous. JBL listed the 4311 at 91dB, swept from 500Hz to 2.5KHz. From my experience, 10 watts of tube per channel will get you moderate sound enjoyment, but you really need at least 40 glass watts to get it going. With solid state, there is no real upper limit before you are driven out of the room.
4) Tower was the place, back in the day. Below are two funny clips of Van Dyke Parks, interviewed outside of Tower. Encapsulates the era.
[As far as the new model's 'value'? I understand they are made in Malaysia, or Indonesia? That is too much, if you consider parts, labor, fit and finish. If it was made in USA, you could understand the price point. Note: this has nothing to do with intrinsic quality, but rather cost to manufacture. Think guitars. A top tier imported Schecter C1 will run you about $1500.00. A USA custom shop model will run you twice that, for essentially the same quality.]