Used vs. new

"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

I bought L,C,R, Paradigm signature speakers from a vendor on the opposite side of the states. Each of the speakers had an issue with the tweeter and the center with one of the mid driver.  Before the purchase the seller sent pics of the speakers before I purchased them.  The seller paid for all new replacement drivers, tweeters.  So, buying used is challenging , but can have big rewards.

Was a big B&W fan before switching to Focal's.  In my experience if you are running musical sub(s), like Rel's, along with the mains the 803 or 4's would be great.  If they are standalone, it will be hard to beat the 802's.

I've had good luck buying used.  Most of my system since deciding to get into this hobby has been used, and in great shape.  It's allowed me to jump in at a much higher lever than I would have been able to afford.  My Hegel H390 was a good deal to start, 2 pairs of Maggies, Heresy IV, and Harbeth Super HL5, all great deals.

It’s down to selective shopping I’d say. So you buy great used then refurbish and or upgrade. Depending on the cash layout one generally ends up with a system of a quality that new few could afford ! Speak to people with older or vintage equipment outside of maintenance I’m sure complaints are few. Buy affordably Great vintage, and in most cases you will exceed performance of Very good equipment of today’s standards. So you don’t get a curb side warranty odds are you won’t need one. After a couple of years the modern good stuff depreciates by 60%, factor that into repairs and/or bad luck.