best bang for buck on used ht speakers? maybe b&w?

I just sold B & W Matrix 803's. I had the same Pioneer receiver and then used it a the pre - pro and upgraded to an Emotiva XPA-5. The B & W's performed very well for me for about 20 years. I sold them for $800 and I feel the buyer purchased a great speaker for that price.

at what point does the cost of a newer high end speaker become only something that a special treated high end room would be benefited from? or for that matter something that only a trained high end person would be able to benefit from?

Baran:

I nearly have the same as you and upgraded over time. I have the Pioneer Elite 94TXH as it had 140 wpc for my 602s..I bought a pair of CDM 7NTs and replaced those fronts with those CDMs and it made the world of difference especially in the bass dept. I was also lucky enought to score a B&K reference 200.7 (seven channels at 200 wpc) to use pre outs on the Elite...MAJOR DIFFERENCE...the B&Ws loved the added juice. If you can find a multi channel power amp and use the pre outs off the Elite your speakers will love you as well as your ears.

Depending on what level you're looking to go to I think the 800 series could be overkill. Here's why. Your CDM1s are probably fine for home theater use, and in my humble opinion the center channel and sub are the most important speakers to get right in terms of impact/enjoyment factor.

I'm not a fan of B&W speakers overall although I respect them a good deal. But I have to say a friend of mine had a Matrix setup and had the Matrix HTM center channel speaker (the one with one midwoof and the tweeter mounted on top -- see link below), and that speaker just sounded dead on balls perfect for TV and movies. No chesty colorations, plenty of grunt for deep male vocals, no discontinuities in sound from left to right so prevalent in many centers with two midwoofs flanking the tweeter, etc. If I were you I'd keep my CDMs, find a used Matrix HTM and possibly upgrade the sub (not sure how good your is, but maybe look at something like a Hsu STF2) and just enjoy. I'd bet there's enough house sound synergy between the Matrix HTM and your CDMs to be more than compatible.

Here's a link to some images in case it's helpful:
http://www.google.com/search?q=b%26w+matrix+htm&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=mUewT-3qLYGX6QGk87SjCQ&ved=0CH8QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=591

Anyway, for what it's worth and best of luck.

would it be best to get a newer 805 and a good sub. than the used nautilus or s series and keep my older not so good sub? i hear that the highs and mids are better on the book shelf 805's than the higher up of the series. i wouldn't know. i love the 800 to 802 look. but too much for home theater applications? lets face it. the left and right channel in home theater are more about mids and highs, the sub takes the rest anyway. or am i wrong?