For many years I was completely a purist, which meant definitely no remote. Now I can't do without one in my main system, mostly because it doubles as a 2-channel quasi-home theater. In fact, I've slid all the way down the slippery slope and demand remote input switching! How I've fallen! But we all make compromises in our systems and that's one I can live with. BTW, the Aesthetic Calypso Signature is excellent with a full-feature remote (with inputs!) and can be had for around your price.
Is preamp remote volume a deal breaker for you?
I've been looking for a quality active tube preamp with remote volume control. Most high quality tube preamps that are reasonably priced (ie, under $4000) do not come with remote volume. Those that do use the cheap motorized Alps pot (I've had bad experience with Alps), probably because it's cheap and widely available. I've seen some very expensive preamps us this pot, unfortunately. The two very high quality preamps I've read about are the SAS Labs 11A, Don Allens preamp, and Atma-sphere M3, but the designers refuses to implement remote because they believe the sound will suffer. Atma-sphere uses a huge hand assembled remote volume only for there expensive MP1. A preamp without remote is a deal breaker for me. How about you?