You really have quite a bit of choice in that price range.
For example here is a good buy - A Stellarvue 90BVT fluorite triplet.
Only drawback I can see with this scope is the 2 inch focuser being a bit small but a fluorite triplet - drool drool. These are about US$1990 new and this one is 2nd hand:
http://www.astromart.com/classifieds...fied_id=602684
Also in Astromart (
www.astromart.com) there is a Tak FS102 for sale for US$1500. These are nice but for imaging they give slightly bluish stars.
You could probably pick up a Televue NP101 which is very similar to a Tak FSQ for that money. I have seen a couple around the US$2200 band. It seems the Americans are hurting financially as I have seen a great deal of high end scopes on Astromart for lower than normal prices in order to sell to cash strapped Americans.
I saw an FSQ106N for US$2800 which you may get for US$2500-2600 with some fast talking. Lowest I have seen for one of those beauties.
Depends also on what type of imaging you want to do. But practically speaking anything around 4 inches in the refractor band is going to be a widefield imaging scope. You'll be doing the brighter nebulae etc, galaxies are a bit challenging for smaller apertures.
Astromart is a great way to pick up bargains and keep the cost of this hobby down.
Greg.