Good FM tuner for around $1K

You should be able to pick up a really nice used tuner for $300-$500. 

The fmtunerinfo web site has (subjective) rankings of what the best tuners are and information about typical sale prices.

While the tuner itself is important, even more important is getting a good signal to it.  Use some of your budget on a good roof mounted antenna. 

I have an Onkyo T9090 II that I enjoy every day and with a good signal it comes close to CD in terms of sound quality.  I paid $200 for it.

Some good suggestions here, thank you. 
Which used Mcintosh tuners are the most desirable ?

For selectivity and sensitivity, the MR78. If your reception situation is difficult, that's THE tuner. For the sound quality of the amplification circuits, some prefer the MR77.

Used is fine. The McIntosh MR 78 looks awesome but a nice one from Audio Classics is a bit more than I want to spend. The new Magnum Dynalab is about as much as the used MR78. I should do some research on roof top antennas also to see how much this is all going to cost. 
I always end up going way over my original budget plan on this kind of stuff