How long untill I can really Flog them Hard

appreciate the opinions Im getting from people here. I previously tried to steer clear of the forums here as i didn't want my opinion before purchasing to be clouded by someone else who sounded very convincing.
and to be very honest i live in a small town and i have never ever heard a pair of B&W 8 series of any generation before the ones i bought turned up on my doorstep.

The speaker was blown when the missus unplugged all the RCA's and then replugged from the source direct to the pwr amp on one channel. I may have over stated how much a "flog them" as for too old, I'm 25 yrs old.
I don't crank them to a commercial listening level in a massive environment. My room is approx 2.4m high 7m long & 5m wide with hard surfaced furniture.
I like to get them to that level where the speakers sound full, bass is kind of empty until they get around 200-250 RMS behind them. about 75% bass driver excursion. "my amps are on the light side" 400RMS
when i blew them it hammered them so hard the tweeter went open circuit and the adhesive on the bass driver core had let go so the driver sunk 10mm back into the cabinet compared to the speaker that didn't clip.
I appreciate all of your input by the way, it is very handy to have access to a base of enthusiasts with a wealth of experience. in my town in Australia B&W only sells 10 pairs of 802's & 800's a year so expert know how is hard to come by.
Once again thanks. Just to confirm burn in time approx 100 hours?
P.S amps are on the list to buy. Pacifying the missus is like fighting a minotaur when it comes to rationalizing 30K wirth of electrocompaniet amps. BTW thoughts on Electro brand and pairing to B&W?
Thanks - Scott

i find the bass quite adequate. especially compared to my Bose 901s i had previously. i find its the mid and treble that needs the wattage to liven up.

Im no expert by any stretch but the only was i can size this up is to say that it seems the bass slightly overpowers the mid and treb until there is more volume. i have a hard surfaced room so i dont think its absorption. i dont have bass droning in corners etc to amplify bass. its more of an opinion i suppose.

Yeh your right. My issue is given my age (25) i dont get taken seriously by a sales person which pisses me off. Its their loss when i walk into a shop with 12k looking to spend and they turn up their nose. Im not going to wave it around to get attention. I Picked up a pair of 602 S3's of some lady who had no idea what they were worth. Jagged them for 100 bucks with the LCR60 centre. JACKPOT. they really opened my eyes to clarity. I figured the 8 DIAMONDS can only be leagues ahead of those tiny bookshelves. I wasnt wrong. I am very happy with what i have, currently i have budget amps because i cant afford to offload 30K on some good power as yet.
In your opinion what brands native to Australia would you suggest in the league of B&W 8's?

after mining through 1000's of peoples opinions and comparing them to what i have access to at good value i am faced with a decicion, Pass labs X1000's, X600's (both second hand) 2 bryston 7BSST's or one Bryston 14BSST ( New) all within 500 dollars of eachother in price but the pass' are 2nd hand the the brystons are new? anyone got a recomendation?