modern versus old-school speakers (for AV use)

[xcentric]

My current AV system has Ruark Preludes front left/right (roughly £900 a pair when new about 15 years ago) , Ruark Vita centre and sub (no idea but prob about £1k for 5.1 package), rears are Epilogues.

Are current Monitor Audio silver series a likely step up from this? Sort of similarity price (given inflation) - so are they likely to work better for AV purposes?

Will be moving to Atmos soon, and I understand that just alright ceiling speakers are fine (~£100 each) and don’t have to match, and a sub from a sub brand is better - and possible 2 subs better still. But the key q is whether I’ll get clearer more depth sound from the MAs than the Ruarks…

Clearly, I can't listen at present, so it's a bit of a leap of faith - but as the system is on a lot at the moment, it may be a good time to upgrade.....

 

[Oleg]

I'd be patient and find a way to audition them if you're spending that kind of money tbh, No matter how good the speakers are, the room they're in can make a huge difference. My kit's 20 years old, and I use it for both music and Blu-Rays. I moved recently. I thought they sounded good before, but the difference in my new house is huge.

Disclaimer: I'm probably a tad biased because my speakers are all Monitor Audio apart from my sub-woofer

 

[Al ears]

I don't believe you'll need to part with the Ruarks and you could lose a lot of money doing that and buying their replacements.
Having said that mine is and all Quad setup ( 4x Quad 11L's their centre and sub) and I don't think I'll be going down the Atmos route.

 

[Nad started it...]

I have been using Ruark Vita 5.1 and two years ago I upgraded the setup with a Monitor Audio Silver 200 floor standers, a Monitor Audio silver centre channel and kept the subwoofer (turned down very low) and the rear speakers for the surround. I'm very happy with the sound, it is certainly an improvement on using just the Ruarks themselves. I keep thinking about running the other pair of Ruarks as a high or Atmos pair but I think it would be overkill - 5.1 is good enough and there are enough speakers in the room already. The Monitor Audio speakers are superb with music and films. I have run them as just a stereo pair for a short period as house DIY projects necessitated and the sound then was still fantastic, albeit with a slight loss of speech clarity in the films. I bought my Monitor Audios from a well known store and was given £200 off the price - worth an ask, even if Julian has left the building!