i picked up this guy earlier locally with matching power amp from guy i traded with.

http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-hk725.html

very nice preamp. really like it with my fostex t50rp and 240DF. very clean and fast. all discrete. no ic's in the path. you can find these about 100 bucks  depending on condition. i found one on ebay earlier for 149 and probably stay there cause know one really knows about the hk700 series(they also were made and manufactured in Japan). probably can talk the guy in price cause it's been sitting there for long time i see.

i wasn't expecting much from the pair but ended up really impressed with how clean it sounds. the power amp has an issue where the rely won't kick on with speaker A selected but will kick on for speaker B for some reason. it's actually a dual mono power amp with dual toroidal transformers and completely discrete. no ic's in the signal path or anywhere. actually nice clean,straight forward power amp.

i forgot to mention insane S/N ratio. very quiet background. i haven't tried any high sensitive headphones yet so might try the SA5000 later with them. 

i never heard of them. it can be possible that they are very good. i do not know cause never heard or seen them before.

only preamp i know with a remote is the yamaha CX-XXX series like the CX-630. i think you can find them cheaper than the creek. best place to ask is audiokarma for that stuff and not head-fi. head-fi when it comes to speaker gear they seem very limited to only head-amps that act like a preamp as well(that's what a headamp basically is, is like a preamp or little low-powered power amp from the looks of it) and powered monitors. no offense to them of course cause i don't know much myself, but that's why i visit audiokarma is to learn and find out stuff. they would even help you step by step on repairing your old nad preamp if you wanted to and have plenty of sticky's for amp repairs.

they know about new stuff as well. there is guy by name of echnowars i think his user name is, is guy to talk to cause he does tons of refurbishes,repairs and other stuff for people on audiokarma and does insanely good job too,so he should have experience with tons of preamps you could be looking for.

They're the HR624's.  They can be driven -volume wise- just fine by an ipod, which is just an attenuator AFAIK, so it seems like passive is a nice idea. 

I've only got one source atm, and have dreams of records lining my walls but I don't think that will happen.  And if it does, I can buy a new preamp. 

That Adcom looks nice but it's way out of my budget, I mean I only paid 400 for the pair of mackies so I'd probably punch myself in the face if I bought that.  I think 100-200 is what I'm looking to spend.  Team Cheap Bastards FTW!

What do you think about that Creek unit?  It's a lot more than the NHT that Don linked to, which it's kind of a lot to pay for a remote (100 dollars) but maybe worth it. 

decide how important the remote is.  if a remote will enhance the listening experience and how you interface with your music, just do it.  the Creek looks like a good buy.  if the remote takes a dump, a Harmony universal for $30 should work. 

for a remote control operation at a low price, you're going to get a motorized Alps Blue Velvet at best.  while some DIYers slag off the BV, i think it's a good, neutral pot.  many hi-fi companies use the BV, including EC and Apex in certain models, as well the highly regarded Naim NAC552 at $28K.   

if Don recommends it, then the NHT looks like a very good buy if you don't need a remote.     

i wouldn't run long ICs with a passive preamp.  a passive pre will have a higher output impedance than a buffer/active preamp and thus will be more susceptible to stereo crosstalk, picking up noise, and possible high freq attenuation if using higher capacitance ICs.  i would recommend shielded cables and keep them reasonably short.