Used vs. new

Buying used can be better than buying new. Frequently, new innovations that sound great upfront have caveats down the road. New materials that are supposed to be better turn out to be inferior in a couple of years. Premature deterioration for instance. I have a set of Polk model 10's from 1979. They have held up remarkably well and still sound good. You can't tell what the track record of anything is going to be until as least five or ten years later. If I audition a pair of ten year old speakers that sound great (and the company is still in business) AND I get them for 1/3 the price, it's a win for me. Everything I have is used. I even married a women who has three kids. Joe

It’s the same issue with automobiles, so when you can come to terms with that you can with this. 

I heard the big B&W speakers at Axpona with McIntosh gear and they sounded amazing! There is also a dealer 30 min away and they sound great there too. I think you will be happier with the larger version 802s. Good luck ! 

If buying used nothing too old under 10 years old unless fully rebuilt,

and check for condition minimum ,Excellent to Mint, and quality of brand counts 

they typically use better parts quality  ibought some very good Dynaudio  contour 

loudspeakers like new and totally rewired and rebuilt the Xovers ,it  is at least equal to any $10 speaker for a  $5k investment.

with digital I would not. For Digital has progressed many times in the last 5 years. 

"it’s a tricky situation since I have no way of listening to either one to see what I like better."

you can buy and keep them for 30 or 60 days and then return them with full refund.

once you narrow down what would match your space, amp, sources, preferences, budget, musical genre, you would be looking at about 5 brands and 10-15 models. You can stick with B&W to compare everything to, but you’d be happy to learn and appreciate what else you can get. There are high quality bookshelves that are better value than B&W, but again it all depends on everything else and the dirty S word - synergy