Which Speaker

Yeah I don't intend to buy anything right away and might take a couple weeks anyway if I want to save up an extra bit of money. I definitely think my preference would be to buy new, plus it would come with a warranty and I'm always a little sceptical with second hand stuff, especially as I cant go and check it out. Saying that obviously if there's a stand out deal or something I'll consider it. The first website in the links above looks like a decent place to look around. 
I agree as well it sounds like a nice idea to work my way up as well as it allowing me to better appreciate the music and equipment. At the same time I want to come in at a good level though so I get a good quality sound and value, I guess I've got to find somewhere in the middle.
For monitor audio I'm looking at the silver range, gold seems to expensive and clearly silver beats bronze. However, I'm struggling to see the difference between some of the models, the 200, 300 and 500 seem to be pretty similar except the 500 appears a fair bit bigger. Not too sure what justifies the £250 difference between each of them. I've also seen the occasional silver 6 or 10 pop up but can't find anything really about them on the internet and how they compare to the others mentioned above.
I haven't heard of bluesound before so I'll see what that is too as well as sticking to narrowing down speaker options. Every time I seem to get somewhere I find a new one recommended somewhere, spoilt for choice I guess there are worse positions to be in. The most recent to come across my computer was the Jamo C 97 ii, but again can't find much on it unlike the other speakers on my list.

Its usually larger drivers or more drivers as you work up the model line. For example, the monitor audio silver 50 is the smaller bookshelf with a 5.25" driver while the silver 100 is the larger bookshelf with an 8" driver. Try looking for pictures of the entire model line together (most manufacturers do this) and it will help with perspective as you can see the relative size difference between the speakers in that model line.

Also, if you do go down the upgrade rabbit hole as many of us have, your perspective will change regarding price and value in general. When I bought my Rega Planar 2 a couple years ago, $600 was what I considered my max budget for a turntable. Earlier this year I bought a new model Planar 8 with Apheta 3 cartridge and a Rega Aria phono stage.  All together that package retails at about 10 times the Planar 2. I've done similar things with speakers/subs/cables etc. I don't regret any of those purchases but it was a process to get there.

You may find out you are quite content with your initial purchase and never get the upgrade bug (as my pal with the yamaha/ monitor set up is) or you may go full crazy like the rest of us.  If you take care of your gear you can always trade it in (save your boxes).  Used stuff didn't start appealing to me until the prices started getting higher. On a $5000 pair of speakers you can be pretty sure they are in good shape from a good reputsble seller and the 40% discount makes the purchase easier to justify. On entry level gear I tend to agree that new is the way to go not enough benefit versus the risk.

Good luck and keep asking questions if you have them.  Lots of knowledge people here on the forum.

Oli,

You have identified 2-3 pretty good brands. Dali all sound great. As are Q Acoustics.
The latest Wharfdales seem to get great reviews. Problem is these are are all too good for your power supply. The system needs synergy to maximize your $.  Theory says to buy speakers first. Also agree you should consider some 2-4 year old speakers to double your budget.
That could get you an amp upgrade too. Happy hunting!!

If you could swing a Rega IO and a pair of Monitor Audio Gold GX100’s you’d be off to a really nice start...  I’d make sacrifices for a few weeks if I had to, as in use my phone with a 3.5 mm cord and no dac until I could get a Bluesound node 2i, then I’d use the dac in the Bluedound until I could get a better dac like a schiit bifrost multibit or whatever and then you’d be sittin pretty.

I think Monitor Audio Silvers would be my choice (and a good one!) in the lesser price range.  Q acoustics, kef, dali are all great speakers as well but I feel that the Silvers are best in that price point. I had some Gold GX50’s and loved them.  They are just built so well.  Silvers look to be really close.  The bolt thru drivers are a cool idea and unique to them.  Check out those bolts on the backs of the speakers.  Those contect to the drivers and hold the drivers in the cabinets that way.  The drivers, cabinets, internal wiring all looked really nice in my Golds, like really nice.

As stated above about the differences in the models, as you go up the line they get bigger and with more drivers / bigger drivers.

I’ve found that the 7” drivers can handle more abuse or louder volumes than the 5” drivers.  Take this into account... I had paradigm studio 60’s that had three 5 1/2” drivers.  I also had the Studio 20 which had one 7” driver.  Both were from the same generation, v5.  The 60’s sounded awesome and had slightly more dynamics at low to medium levels but the 20’s could play louder and stay composed at higher volumes than the 60’s.  Paradigm makes a studio 100 that uses 4 of the larger 7” drivers which would have overloaded my room so the only way to get “more” within the brand was to move from Studio 20’s to S2’s.

Point is, if you like to crank it up at times, the 7” drivers are better.  If you are always listening at quiet to medium volumes, sometimes the 5” versions are better because all other things equal, the smaller driver will be faster and the thinner front baffle can produce better imaging.  A thin, tall speaker is pretty sexy too.

I don’t think you have to worry about much when buying speakers  preowned at this level (just do your due diligence with the seller) and I think you can save some $ doing it that way.  Preowned integrateds in the $500-$700 range aren’t going to offer much, if any, over something like a new Rega IO @ $500 and buying electronics new is reassuring (warranty etc).

When looking at speakers remember that stands are going to cost $150 so that eats into a savings you have with a standmount vs a floorstanding speaker.

Good Luck and have fun!