i owned m3 sapphires for a time, i would say they will not work properly with 8 wpc tube amps... the 4x 15 in passive woofers need pretty decent amp damping factor to control the bass output - i tried my cary 300b se-i on them and i felt the bass lost most of the tone and definition that can be heard when driven by, say, a good solid state amp like a hegel or exposure amp
that said, the treble and upper midrange can be somewhat biting on the sapphires, i can see how many would opt for tubes to improve the musicality in those frequency bands... as always, all speakers make and impose certain tradeoffs, up to the owner to choose the flavor they can live with best