If he can find a deal, or, stretch the budget the Parasound integrated is a good value, although more power than he will probably use.
A good selection under $2k in, NAD, Marantz or Cambridge Audio. The CS A80 is a nice unit and has a built in DAC from Cambridge.
I'm not that familiar with Jolida or Line Magnetic but they should have some tube offerings in the budget.
My pick over any of the above would be if he could find a Naim, Nate in his budget, they have different models, I just don't know the prices. The Naim would be a huge step up in sound quality, really excellent in sound and quality. The Unity series is good as well but that's more of a "lifestyle" orientated product.