Solid State Integrated in 1500- 1800 range ?

The Acurus is not a bad choice. Some will say it sounds no good, but I beg to differ. In a way I believe you get what you pay for. The one I am speaking of is the Acurus DIA-150.
It is also much less than you were thinking of spending at around $750. Look at this review : http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_8_3/acurus-dia-150-integrated-amplifier-7-2001.html

If anyone knows of a more powerful integrated than this one you should tell us. I would like to hear also.

As far as separates go, would you consider those too?
You could afford to get a top-of-the-line acurus set up, probably under $1000.
Then you would have 200x2 into 8 ohms, 300x2 into 4 ohms.
Dont believe all the negative comments you hear about Acurus from others who will soon be saying it doesn't sound good at all. It is made by the same people who make Aragon and the goal they had when making it was to make it very transparent. I currently use their top-of-the-line set up, Acurus A200 amp & Acurus RL-11 preamp, and although I am thinking of moving on to Aragon, this is not in your price range, is not integrated, and once again I feel that the Acurus is pretty good too.

As for experience, I have been into this for 10 years, but am sure their are many much more experienced opinions out there than mine. .02

I have the Plinius 8200 and a good friend has the 8100(less power). My friend is driving Thiel 2-2's, the previous version of your speaker. Both of us agree that the Plinius sounds fantastic! My other buddy, the original owner of the Thiels, said they need a lot of power to make them really sing. If that is true, that would make the 8200 the obvious choice among the two (175 vs 100 watts).

Enjoy,

TIC

Magnum Dynalab MD308? New is high $2300 (100 watts/channel)
Perreaux E160i Integrated Amp $1800. (160 watts/channel)

Check out the Sim I-5 used. I've had one for about 6 mo's and while it's only rated at 70w/ch, it sounds much much bigger. I'm driving a pair of Hales Rev 3's and can't decide whether to keep the I-5 or a Llano S-100 (which is a great solid state amp.

The Pliunis 8100 is a great little integrated. It is based off the SA topography. It is a great sounding intergated amp coupled with dunlavy speakers.