Help! Pre amp turning on by itself.

One thing for sure, audiophiles are not nearly as funny as they think they are.

Lots of remotes affect other products...my friend was about to buy an expensive BAT preamp remote, then accidentally realized his Marantz CD remote also worked on the BAT...my Cambridge radio regularly turned itself on...

With the remote in a closed drawer seems impossible for it to turn on the pre-amp. As already suggested above I would put tape over the sensor on the pre to ensure its not another remote.

Oddly I have several appliances that occasionally "reset" themselves or turn on if off.  They do this in unison!  Took me a while to figure it out but what was happening is a small voltage dip and then a slight overshoot which caused them switch on.  I doubt this is of any help to your sitch.

Regards,

barts 

....maybe your pre is feeling lonely and ignored.
Have you been thinking about 'moving on' to a different one?

The 'HAL Effect'?  Has it been calling you 'Dave'?

When not in use, turn it off. All my stuff (except a couple of REL subs) goes off when I shut down the power conditioner.