Luis- Though your Soliloquy's are efficient at 90db and will certainly make music with 8 watts of power, I'd expect you'd be rather disappointed if you were wanting of anything more than moderate volume from them. I own 8 watt SET amps and have used them with a pair of 89db monitors and though they were magic at moderate volumes they really were lacking at anything more than that. I was playing that combination in a relatively small room also. I'd suggest if you want to run with minimal power that you draw the line around 25-35 watts for your 5.3's In that range you will be likely looking at EL34 based amps. You did not mention a budget, and as you know the range is wide. I like my Quicksilver Mini-Mites and have owned 4 different pairs of Quicksilver amps and have enjoyed every one for different reasons. The Mini-Mites offer tremendous bang for the buck at $995 pair. If you are looking for an integrated solution my friend has been enjoying his 5.3's with a Jolida 502B. In the integrated realms I might also suggest an Audiomat Arpege.
Not sure why you've fixated on small tubes (most men are quite the opposite). Amps are very system-dependent and the amp you heard years ago may or may not fit in your system in a similar way. I truly doubt you'd be happy with a flea-powered amp and those speakers though. Just one opinion.
To answer your question more directly; My guess is it would have been EL-84 based amp you heard. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the one Decware makes. Certainly there may be many others, but I am not familiar with any of them, and have no experience with the Decware to speak of. That amp puts out around 5 watts. Perhaps it would drive your speakers, but again, not very loud.
Marco
Not sure why you've fixated on small tubes (most men are quite the opposite). Amps are very system-dependent and the amp you heard years ago may or may not fit in your system in a similar way. I truly doubt you'd be happy with a flea-powered amp and those speakers though. Just one opinion.
To answer your question more directly; My guess is it would have been EL-84 based amp you heard. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the one Decware makes. Certainly there may be many others, but I am not familiar with any of them, and have no experience with the Decware to speak of. That amp puts out around 5 watts. Perhaps it would drive your speakers, but again, not very loud.
Marco