Tube Pre Amp + Tube Phono Section

I am really enjoying my Granite Audio tube preamp.
Great build quality and layout.
It is recommended to only drive 2.0 mV or above cartridges however. Although I have succesfully used a Shelter 901 with it.

For $2K budget however you would have to get lucky.
Another option that would fit your budget is the Audio Note M-2 w/ phono, used of course.

I have experience with the CJ Premier 15 phono stage. It's a very nice piece, around $2K used here on the 'Gon. It's very, very smooth, but doesn't mate well with the really low output cartridges due to its fixed 53dB gain. The system was pretty bloody noisy with my Benz Lo.4 (actual output ~0.3mv).

It's most objectionable deficiency is a lack of deep bass, which curiously is much weaker than even my predecessor low-end solid state phono stages. From about 70 Hz and up, this one is really good, approaching some of the best, although not particularly matching the Aesthetix IO or Rhea. (I haven't heard either of the Aesthetix in my system, so I can't compare that well.)

I recommend the JJ Electronics 243 tube preamp. It has a killer phono stage with adjustable loading and can handle cartridges as low as 0.3mV with no problems. It retails for $1995.00 but has a street price of around $1300.00. I have owned many respected preamps, but none have beat this one and most aren't even as good.

Oz