Reasonably priced 2K Phono Preamp?

Klyne 7 is definitely the way to go. Very flexible with
Gain/impedence/high-frequency contour adjustment. Enough
gain for even 0.2mv output and very quiet. Sounds amazingly
good. It actually beats Vandetta when my friend made the
side by side comparison.

Audio research PH3 SE version can't be beat from all the many, many, many reviews i've read. stereophile rated A, hybrid design and if you can find them used (rare) they go from $1,500-$1,600. if you find one for that price and dont want to buy let me know and i'll take it.

The PH-3SE (which I owned) can easily be beat by the Sonic Frontiers Phono One SE (which I now own). The Phono One SE new can be purchased from underwoodwally on Augiogon for less than $2k.

pctower: i had the sonic frontiers phono one and wasn't too crazy about it. how is the sf phono1 se version different and is it drastically so?
thanks

I suggest an Audible Illusions Modulus 3, then add NOS tubes(Seimens are working great for me). Excellent phono stage. Very good all around performance. Tough to beat for the money -- well under your budget even with premium NOS tubes.