Dcstep, your goals and mine look identical on paper. We are thinking the same way there, but went about it differently. I use tubes *because* I can get them to be more neutral, detailed and relaxed; I'm not looking for coloration. On my speakers, you can't get most transistor amps to make good bass, and its easy to demonstrate how profound that difference is (my amps are full power to 1 Hz, unusual in a tube amp).
Like you, I trust my ears first :)
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The 115db peaks of the orchestra would be in the first 10 rows or so if you are in the center. So this is from the listening position.
Although this thread is about speakers, the match between the amp and the speaker is paramount. You do have to pay attention to the intention of the speaker designer to know what kind of amp is going to work with the speaker. Its not always intuitive! For example, horns are traditionally in the realm of tubes, but when I started seeing how the newer Avangarde crossovers were designed, it was obvious to me long before I found out that the speakers were intended for transistors only. In the case of the Trios, there is no tube amp that will sound really right on the speaker, solely on account of the impedance curve.
BTW, Nelson Pass has a good article, published about 2 1/2 years ago in Audio Express, about how full range drivers interact with 'current source' (high impedance, usually tube) amplifiers. He works with solid state of course, and began building high impedance 'current source' amplifiers. The First Watt amps are an example of that.