Does newer necessarily mean better? so, for example, are the 72SE's better than the 82 since I can have them for approx. the same price?
No.

Since this is our first nice speaker purchase, listening to them may help us decide, but I also may inadvertantly pick a speaker that sounds closer to my KLH $200 dollar specials since that isthe quality I've listened to my whole life.
None of these speakers are going to sound anything even remotely like KLH.

So at issue is that I can have the 82s for a demo price. or the 72se's or the contour 1.3 mark 2's at a special price since they are silver finish or something. Now, the 72SE's I read have a number of contour parts in them. Does this pretty much guarantees that they'll have better sound than the audience components in the 82s?
I'm not one to really care too much about the finish. Pick the speaker that YOU like the best based upon the SOUND. The 72 SE borrows components from the now out of production Contour 1.8 MkII. I haven't heard nor read any reviews on this speaker, but I do know that the regular 72 is probably the least successful speaker from the Audience line. Bottom line, there are no guarantees.

Again, audition the Audience 52 SE. For $1400, I think you will really like it.