personal experiences with quaility preamps...

I agree with Redkiwi, but if you want separates you might consider Sonic Frontiers Pre-1 or Pre-1L, the former with phono, the latter without. I had a Pre-1 and a CAT SL-1 III at the same time, and the Pre-1 stood comparison quite well. Depending on power needs, you can get a Pass Aleph 3 for roughly $1000, and unless you prefer tubes (as I do), it would probably make you happy. Total cost should be under $1600 for a Pre-1 or Pre-1L and an Aleph 3.

The Blue Circle BC21 tube pre, BC22 solid state amp is a great matching combination. List is $3650 ($1500/$2150) but used mint/demo is about $2200 ($950/$1250).

I would get 2.5K nice used power amp and FT-Audio LW1 (passive controller). FT is a raved here and there $500 passive pre, and it it really a bang for a buck. www.ftaudio.com. If interested, email Paul there. Ken

i can't help but recommend rogue audio tubed gear, it's what i own and i can say i've been very satisfied these last 7 months. clearly there is stiff competition in the market and better gear, but i think you have to spend considerably more.
my rogue 99 magnum was had for about $1900 and a very well cared for rogue 88 power amp (non magnum) was bought used on audiogon for about $900. sounds like this fits in your budget.
you can always buy non magnum versions and have them magged at the factory. check out www.rogueaudio.com for more info, or better yet call mark o'brien. he listens, does not push, and provides great customer support.
btw i think i've recently seen a 99 preamp for about $1300 on this site. you may also consider the m120 monoblocks since you seem to have the budget.
compare against whatever else you can if possible.
hope this helps

For $2K, you could have a BAT VK3i tube pre and a McCormack DNA 0.5 dlx ss amp(125 wpc) or BAT/DNA1 (185 wpc) for $2.75K. Very nice combo. Either would leave you with some $ for used cables. A lot depends on what kind of music you listen to and what your present/future plans are for speakers (in terms of the load, current demands, etc.)