Best Tube integrated under 2000

Nita, you do realize you responded to a 9 year old question don't you?

Eastern Electric M520

I have had several integrated amps. over the years including Jeff Rowland, VTL,
Arcam, and a few other Chinese tube amplifiers. All have had their strengths and weaknesses but my favorite of all time is a modified Eastern Electric M520. Bill switched all coupling caps to Mundorf Silver and foil caps and the sound is very elevated to another level of transparency. This amplifier seems very
dynamic with my Coincident Total Eclipse speaker. This amp. runs in tube class A of 24 watts so it may not be for everyone but this is a fairly high current amp so it will do well with most speakers.
The amplifier appears very well built and is an anto bias amp for it is very easy to tube roll and you will easily hear the difference between tubes and cables. This is one of the most musical amplifier available anywhere near this price.
Please ask for the upgrade to these caps or even teflon if you have the $s.
Highly recommended.

Also note that the VTL IT85 has an active pre-amp. Plus, you can add an ST85 later for bi-amping, if you wish. This is a great integrated that does everything well. My first choice if I were to move from my current separates.

Used VTL IT85... 80wpc, EL34 based tube integrated, headphone, remote, great looks, GREAT sound with electrostats. (i'm using one now with my ML Aerius i, and it transformed my system)

You can get a Jadis Orchestra Reference for around $1600. I have one and this thing sounds GREAT. It killed my reference gear prior to this acquisition, and now both my wife and I are hooked on tubes and completely redoing our current setup. This is one killer amp! Try speakers with 8 ohms impedance and sensitivity ratings >90db. Good hunting.

I'll second the Antique Sound Lab AQ1005 recommendation. Have one in my system now (on loan). Most powerful 8 watts I've ever heard(my own amp is a 140-watt CJ Premier l2, and I'm very tempted to switch). Good luck, Dave

Need info on the rest of your setup (including the room size and your listening tastes) in order to get some decent suggestions.

Lot's of good tube amps under $2K, but how well they will perform depends on the rest of the system and the size of the room.

Manley Stingray if you like EL84's, but roll out the stock Jan Phillips 12AT7's for some Mullard 6201's, to eliminate the tube glare. It lists for $2250, but can be gotten for $1995. Also, it is a very cool looking amp.

Great Question. I have wondered the same thing. My search has led me to the Rogue Tempest which can be switched to triode or ultalinear and the Conrad Johnson CAV 50 which generally comes wired ultralinear but can be sent to the factory and converted to triode. These two units sell used under your cieling. Rogue has auto bias and the CJ is manual with LED's. I'm somewhat new to this hobby so I would also like to hear what the rest of the community has to say.

For $1799 the Antique Sound Labs AQ1005 is a babe. Uses 300B tubes in a single ended triode configuration to generate approximately 10 wpc. Sweet and a great deal. We sell these steadily, but if your speakers need more power there are some other very good choices that are push pull in the same price range. For example the Audio Valve Assistent puts out 25 wpc. in push pull mode. We have a demo posted for $1499.