Thinking of buying a pair of Splendor D7.2...

@fsonicsmith  Very helpful distinction there! I bought my D7s after feeling that they came extremely close to the Joseph Audio floorstanders but at half the price.  The D7s should also be a little easier to drive.  I will keep my eyes open opportunistically but no deliberate hunt for Devores yet ;) 

You are right Gearhead, sorry. 
On your budget an amazing solid state amp value is a used (only way to get one) McCormack DNA.5 that has been upgraded by Steve McCormack. They are ridiculously good for the money is stock form at full list price but to get a used one that has been modded for the $800-$900 prices they seem to go for is an even better deal. I make this recco because I own both a DNA.5 and DNA-1, both modded heavily by Steve. The .5 sounds sweeter but the 1 has more bass ooomph and propulsive-ness. They both "like" a tubed preamp as they have a suitable input impedance. This will sweeten up the tone too and tubed preamps are far less prone to problems than amps (unless you get an Audible Illusions 3A so my advice is don't). 
But I will say it again. Your question is just too broad and generally unanswerable. You are going to have to try stuff. Buy used so you can re-sell on this forum if you don't like it and limit your losses. 

I acknowledge the question is broad in nature but no different than what one may ask a sales person in a Hi-Fi shop. You guys seem better informed though!I read a review of the McCormack DNA-1 in Stereophile, they concur with you. I also found one for sale recently refurbished for $1400, Seems a bit pricey for an amp that is out of production and was only $2k when new back in 1995...I am buying with CDN $ which converts to $2000 CDN! So much for depreciation. So what tube pre-amp would compliment around $1500 that is also dependable at the risk of being too general again?

Very tough question gearhead. In fact, I disqualify myself from answering it. My tube preamps consisted of the long-discontinued Audioprism Mantissa and the almost current ARC Ref 6. 
Do yourself a huge favor and call Galen Carol. He will not steer you in the wrong direction. 
A hidden gem is the Schiit tubed preamp though. To me, figuring out the volume control is half the battle with a preamp and the Schiit design does that. But-Galen Carol will say-truthfully-he can not comment on 
Schiit since it is sold factory-direct. 

I might suggest a used Audio Research DSI200, which can be found in your price range.
It’s what I use to drive my Spendor D7’s.
It’s solid state, class D, but doesn’t use off the shelf modules like most class D today. ARC designed the circuits to sound like their tube amps. Runs cool to the touch and can be left on all the time with min current draw. I am very happy with the combination.