Surprised that no one has mentioned PS Audio Stellar Phono. Mine is startlingly good. I’ve only used it with coils but can’t imagine it would be less than great with MM’s.
Okay, it's $2,499, so it's a little above your ceiling. But this is the one Michael Fremer of Stereophile said should be considered by anyone planning to buy a phono pre AT ANY PRICE. And that's a guy who normally uses 5 and 6-figure phone pre's.
I bought one and compared it to my Lamm LP 2 tube phono pre -- and immediately sold the Lamm for twice the cost of the PS Stellar.
With his highly recommended LPS, the Sutherland 20/20 is $2650 - the insight with LPS is $1750 and an excellent phono stage and will meet the $2200 criteria. You may be able to get an Insight used for $8-900 and then add the LPS for $350, which represents tremendous value. It might be hard to find a used 20/20, but if you can, it should be under $2200 by a good bit,and adding the LPS is easier as it is in a separate box, whereas in the Insight, there is an internal board swap (I did myself with assistance from Ron over the phone). He is a great guy..
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