Contrary to most of these posts, I had no problem in getting rid of the remote. Of course, I did like it, even loved it, but I found I was using it too often to make slight adjustments in volume in a single song rather than listening to the music. I would turn up soft passages, turn down loud passages, etc. etc., and found myself listening more to the volume sometimes than the song.
My friend had no problem without a remote on his older ARC preamp. So, when an opportunity developed to buy a component without a remote, I did it. And, it's worked out fine. Now, I set the volume and tend to leave it that way. If it needs adjustment every so often, I get up and do it. No big deal. It's more relaxing.