A few really good value (in terms of playability) options in my opinion are:

Whitewater
Black Rose
Johnny Mnemonic
Roadshow
Jurassic Park
Junkyard (may be over $3k)

A couple of the Stern machines that aren't mentioned much that i really enjoy are:
Monopoly
Roller Coaster Tycoon
Ripley's (again, prob over $3k)

In fact i have kept a number of these machines over Addams that i sold..