Forgive me for not having read all of the previous posts in this thread, for what I have to say is my opinion uninfluenced by what might have been stated previously.
I have preferred direct coupled solid state amplifiers with relatively high damping factors over tube amplifiers since 1971 (yes, I am a "seasoned" music lover). The reason is that I believe that the bottom end (bass) of a musical performance is the foundation upon which the other parts of a composition are built, which requires that a reproduced bottom end be as faithful to the recorded performance as possible. Given that transformer coupled amplifiers (i.e., all tube amplifiers, except for OTL tube amplifiers, as well as transformer coupled solid state amplifiers, such as many McIntosh amplifiers) have far lower damping factors than most direct coupled solid state amplifiers (i.e., solid state amplifiers that use sufficient negative feedback), direct coupled solid state amplifiers are generally better at accurately reproducing the bottom end of recordings than are transformer coupled amplifiers. This means that if you want to have minimaly colored bottom end, you might have to give up some of the midrange "warmth" and "openness" (related to low damping factors inherent to transformer coupled designs) of tube amplifiers to get it. That is a trade off I am willing to live with and actually prefer. Note: Hopefully, my post won't lead to a rehash of the subjective drawbacks of negative feedback in amplifier designs.
So with all of that said, what I have been using with my HT3's are McIntosh MC162 direct coupled, solid state, 2-channel amplifiers operating in bridged mode, one for each stereo channel. Nominally, in bridged mode each amp provides 320 Watts into 8 ohms and 500 Watts into 4 ohms, with an overhead of about 1.2 dB and a minimum damping factor of 200 (a very high damping factor relative to transformer coupled designs). The HT3's simply sing with those amplifiers driving them (to my ears, at least), particularly in the critical bottom end.
I recommend you try a really good, powerful, solid state amplifier with a minimum damping factor of at least 100 to drive your HT3's. At least, give such a setup a try. You might decide to go with a tube setup, but at least you will know you made the right decision.
Bob