Someone on DIY pm'd me about my opinion of the L3 vs. the scan. Here you go:
First off, let me say that I picked up the Scans at a pretty decent price. $300 in MINT condition. If it hadn't been for that I would've waited a while longer.
The L3's aren't bad... don't get me wrong. I enjoyed them. The reason I took them out was because I couldn't give them the venting I thought they needed. At the time I didn't have any issues with their sound... it's just that I wanted to go back to a 2-way more than anything. I could've made them work, but didn't want to.
In a roundabout way I got back to a 3-way (like I said, got a deal). Scan revs are somewhat the pinnacle of audio, which is something I think a lot of folks will agree with. Not everyone will agree they are great, but it does seem like they are something that people kind of build up to. In my case, this is what happened. I've had a few different drivers, starting off low-end and gradually working my way up. The Revelator name is really what drew me in, I won't lie. I just wanted to try them.
Now, you know that saying 'ignorance is bliss'?... hits the nail on the head with the L3's. They aren't bad, don't get me wrong. I paid about $140 used for them and they were great drivers for that price. What's more is that the Scans are A LOT more money than those, so comparatively, based on money, the L3's may still be the better choice.
However, if you don't mind spending the extra $, I guarantee you'll never turn back once you buy the Scans. Seriously, I have done no EQ work; only t/a and x-over. With that alone, the Scans are much more tonally accurate, IMO. They also seem to stage much better, but I believe this may be due to my install more than anything...I installed these 'right' by accident, I believe, lol.
They are getting a lot of power... don't know how much, but they are powered off a pdx 4.150, so they're getting at least 100w. Probably close to the full 150w if I had to guess. They seriously shine. They sound flat out amazing. I'm noticing things in songs I hadn't before. Artists' voices seem to be much more life like. Breaths are more 'breathy', vocals on the females are much more full. Guys' vocals have more low end but not overbearing; truly a more natural sound to them. This is easy to notice when listening to talk radio as I did this morning on the way to work.
Like I said, for a lot of people it comes down to money. That's what this site was founded on. If you can afford to get the 12m's or come up on a good deal like I did, I say jump on it. At their resale value you wouldn't take much a hit on them if you didn't like them.
* yea, we all say "install" but when you can drop a speaker in and it just breathes new life into your system... I think it's safe to say the speaker has an impact *
This is all IMO, of course.
