Why do McIntosh come with cheap plastic remotes?

I think manufacturers are in a quandary about how high a quality remote to provide, and how closely the remote should match the look and feel of the host unit.

They take away design and engineering focus from the unit itself, where most of the quality and product differentiation should be occurring anyway.

Custom remotes are expensive to design and build, when most of the internals and controls are standardized anyway.

I think in a few years, some manufacturers will stop providing remotes all together, and in their place, provide smartphone and tablet apps.

My 1999 construction Symphonic Line tube pre-amp came with a skimpy plastic volume only remote.

The Plinius M8 pre-amp (that I am currently using after mildly frying the SL with a bad tube) has a foot-long solid aluminum remote that I could use to bash in the skulls of any burglars seeking to steal my gear. My only concern with it would be fumbling it into (and through) my glass coffee table.

In hi-finews , april 2014( England ) an anouncement of the ARC CD6 tells us a heavyweight alloy IR remote is included !Well , well is ARC also a reader of Audiogon.Good !

I like the shape and feel of my mac remote. It's interesting that they added weights inside, so even if it's plastic is has just the right amount of weight to feel good in my hand.

It should be made of titanium and have mini-me meters with an option to turn them off.