Well, I have to admit I'm not a remote kind of guy because the system is in a room off to the side and around a corner so the remote won't work. Yes it has presets but you have to twist the dial to step through them not push a button on the face of the unit. The remote does allow more flexibility. Ya know, any good tuner will work. I also, have on older Yamaha RX-595 receiver and it's tuner section is very easy to use. I suppose they use a similar set up with there tuner units.