Given the music you like and the sound you’re looking for, I’d get the Unison Research Unico Hybrid integrated available here for $900, a nice pair of Nola Boxers on US AudioMart for $700, and an Audio Technica Carbon VTA turntable available at Massdrop for $350. For wires I’d get them through Acoustic BBQ made by member @grannyring. For speaker stands I’d get the 24” Glass Floor Speaker Stands ($62) or the Monolith stands ($55) from Monoprice depending on your taste — both are sand fillable (and you should), and I’d guess the Monolith would yield marginally better sound if you’re on the fence. The turntable is initially the biggest bottleneck of this system, but it’s still decent enough to get you going and has the advantages of coming with a cartridge and built-in phono preamp. Plus the ‘table has a good enough foundation and potential that it can be upgraded later as budget allows to significantly increase performance with a better cartridge and external phono pre. And it looks great too, as do the speakers and amp. I think you’d be thrilled with this system given your stated tastes and requirements.
BTW, ditch the notion of a separate amp and preamp at this budget level — an integrated is absolutely the way to go. And I’d also avoid a tube amp if as you say you don’t want to jump in head first and want something simple that you can play every day. The Unico has a couple small tubes in the input section so they won’t need to be changed very often and shouldn’t be very expensive, yet you’ll still get a good dose of that inviting “tube magic” I think you’re looking for — and the Nolas thrive on tubes as well. This whole shebang may end up costing a little more than $2k considering shipping, cables, and stands (depending somewhat on your negotiating skills), but I think you’ll be happy to stretch a little once the music starts playing. Hope this helps, and best of luck in your quest!
BTW, ditch the notion of a separate amp and preamp at this budget level — an integrated is absolutely the way to go. And I’d also avoid a tube amp if as you say you don’t want to jump in head first and want something simple that you can play every day. The Unico has a couple small tubes in the input section so they won’t need to be changed very often and shouldn’t be very expensive, yet you’ll still get a good dose of that inviting “tube magic” I think you’re looking for — and the Nolas thrive on tubes as well. This whole shebang may end up costing a little more than $2k considering shipping, cables, and stands (depending somewhat on your negotiating skills), but I think you’ll be happy to stretch a little once the music starts playing. Hope this helps, and best of luck in your quest!