Any particular reason why you're shunning the WASR? I have a Henderson Defense 10/63 and it is an excellent rifle.
Sure, the Romanian AKs are usually a bit "cruder" than upper end ones from Bulgaria or Russia, but if you're basing your opinion entirely on what you read on the Internet you might be avoiding some great deals out there.
If you have time today, swing down to SA for the San Antonio Gun Show going on at the Freeman Expo Hall next to the AT&T Center; or hit the SAXET show the first weekend of the month at 410 & Marbach. We commonly see some nice AKs (and WASRs) at those shows and you can probably negotiate one at a decent price. Remember that AK prices have gone up considerably in the past six months or so, so even a bog standard WASR-10 will run you $499 at most dealers, sometimes higher (and a few times much higher!).
Personally, I'd rather steer clear of those "tacticool" AKs that folks seem to think are worth so much money when they simply have a lot of KVAR and other accessories stuck on them.
Fair enough, there's just so many folks out there that badmouth the WASR where it is really a good AK if you can inspect it to make sure it isn't one of the Century hack jobs.
You just missed an excellent deal on a Bulgarian milled SLR-95 that was up for sale in the DFW area, I recently obtained one and outside of the Saigas I would have to say it is the best upper-end AK production AK made.
We just got back from the SA gun show and I did see SLR-107 folders for just a tad under a grand. There were SGLs at ~$750-850 which is a tad outside of your range but are worth it. I have a SGL-20 (which is the same as the SGL-21 except it doesn't have the accessory lug) that I love, it has the Warsaw Pact-length stock on it (about a 1.25" shorter than the NATO length one) which I find to be much better in getting a good cheek weld on it.
Prices on AKs have been on the rise for a while, even WASR-10s which were running $299 not too long ago are now commanding $499 and up. But there was a decent selection of AKs and accessories available at the SA Gun Show so if you get a chance to go to the June show, I'd highly recommend it!