B&W 800 MATRIX

Holy Moly. How in the world did you find them ?
Congratulations.
Their (B&W) last full out assault speaker from a time when two channel music was what mattered.

tattooedtrackman 
You have many options open to you as far as what goes in front. Take your time.
I would start by telling us
1) dimensions of the room,
2) where they will be placed***
3) sitting position from the speakers and db levels

***
They are very, very room friendly with the high and low subs (sorry i mean woofers - :^)),   cancelling out waves and leaving pure notes.
To understand this run them both ways - with the top woofer box connected and not.

To really understand just how room friendly, see this pic that I posted some time ago on the web. I did not know it was still out there !

Lewis Lipnick and his 800's.

http://s1173.photobucket.com/user/CT-993/media/920b399e-f6ee-4fd8-80dc-007a5b65bf7b_zps8dd751d3.jpg....

Note:
I would not follow the Stereophile recommendations for their build. Follow the B&W manual instructions meaning....

Assemble/build them flat on a carpeted floor. Once ready have your friend (wife?) yeah right... help you lift them up.
Their heavy bases allow for this to happen quite easily.
They are easily moved around by angling them on their bases and shifting them left and right. - without the spiking.

Anyone want to take a guess at what they would cost B&W to build today - in England ?
6 separate isolated speaker sections. Stuffed with silver wiring,
WBF connectors and 4 crossovers per speaker easily accessible from the rear of each box.
Can be quad wired and/or quad amp'ed.

tattooedtrackman
To see how I run mine click on the picture next to my Audiogon moniker.
Do keep us updated .

Cheers

Krell is definitely not bright . Krell should negate "brightness" if heard from BW . I do not hear B&W as bright myself .

I found them on ebay a few days ago for $7000 and are in mint condition. My room size in 30 ft x 18 ft. And the speakers have to be about 6 ft. apart because of my sloped ceiling . Hard wood floors also. I saw your pics and the wiring looks so complicated i might need a professional .lol.. Also I am reading alot of good things from the Krell ksa 250 .Could that amp run these speakers ? Do i need mono blocks? I do want to go with a solid sate amp and pre amp as i do not want to deal with tubes.  What do u think ? I will be taking my time though i do not want to rush into anything . The main thing was to acquire these speakers. 

Also the speakers will be back a few inches from wall and we will be sitting at the far end of the room approx 25 ft away . 

I bought them but have to pick them up this week . Good thing they are only about 15 miles away from me in NJ . So i do not have to get them shipped.