VAC preamps - too expensive?

The VAC preamp lineup is not "clever" marketing trying to trick people into spending more. It’s true high-end gear for extreme enthusiasts who love the VAC sound and are beyond their phase of continually churning through $2K - 10K models on audiogon, doing the inevitable give-and-take sidesteps with each trade.

The Sig IIa SE is the result of a long evolution of their previous flagship preamp; the Master is a trickle-down cost reduced version of the Statement minus its over-the-top cosmetic perfection. The cost savings of the Sig IIa SE vs Master is more significant when you add in the 6-tube phono stage to each unit (28K vs. 40K), which is a beyond excellent stage - VAC’s tube MM phono sounds particularly amazing (add your choice of SUT for MC or use its built-in Lundahls), so as full function preamps their sound is hard to match or beat at any price.

The fact that the Signature preamp still lives in "IIa SE" form (first the "II" then "a" then "SE" upgrades) also gives past Signature customers an upgrade path.

I only use one source on my Master - vinyl. I have no use for the HT bypass; in fact that once got accidentally engaged and it took me an hour to figure out why there was no sound.

@jumia I'm sure there is a Denon amp with a feature-packed remote that will more than meet your needs at a fraction of the cost of a VAC.  I'm so glad that VAC didn't needlessly place additional wiring and circuitry into my amp that could only degrade (not enhance) sound quality.  Criticizing VAC for a lack of robust features on it's remote is like criticizing haiku for its brevity.

Absurd. They did extra wiring for a special ht bypass button on front.

they can do it with no sq impact.  
No one is asking for input on remote.

they profit more.  
I would pay extra for a working input button on remote.

Dropping gems like "absurd" and "they profit more", it sounds like you are just here to complain about not being in the target market of VAC, rather than seriously considering a VAC preamp. Have you even heard one before? VAC specifically made a decision years ago to start catering more to ultra high-end purist 2ch enthusiasts, rather than compete with the deluge of cheaper / budget Chinese-made tube amps. Yes that left some customers behind with the new lines. But they still service their old products, going back many years now, as much as possible. 

There used to be a user here mdavid0 or something who would drop controversial titles like this just to stir it up.

Yet they ventured into ht. So anyone use it for ht?

ht users want an exquisite tube preamp that has input changing capability on a remote.  Vac almost got there.