MM phono preamp upgrade for $1000?

For MM only, look at tube phono amps. Not too easy to find used in the US but the Croft RIAA R is sweet.

its below your budge, but you may want to try the zerozone EAR clone, or the Zerozone Marantz 7 phono stage clone. For MM carts. To beat them you need to get into the 1600 to 2000 range for a Chinook.

I have been looking into Musical Surroundings and Sutherland already and both are possibilities. The Croft is new to me and I will check it out. 
My amp is a Icon Audio Stereo 40 mk4 tube integrated. Speakers are Sonus Faber Concerto with REL Britannia 2 subwoofer. I think I prefer a “slightly” more exciting sound than dead neutral. Despite the fact that I’m an old guy with some high frequency hearing loss I still don’t like a thin, bright or edgy sound. I listen to mostly the classic rock I grew up with but mix in some jazz, blues and a little classical.

Take a look at the Darlington Labs MP-7 and its no feedback, high voltage approach.  

I have the first version of the Nova Phonomena.  My listening tastes are probably similar to yours.  The Nova Phonomena does particularly well with percussion and bass rich music such as Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, War, etc.