From your explanation, what you have is a momentary contact switch that when pressed, activates a power relay -- same as my Classé amp. I'm sorry but you will have to abandon your idea of turning the amp on remotely. Of course its not impossible for a skilled person to mod the amp so that it could be triggered remotely, but many people would consider that to be an act of heresy. You would certainly be lowering the resale value. I've done a good share of mods and thought they actually enhanced the equipment, but not everyone would share that view.
Here's my mod of a vintage Phase Linear 400 series 2 where I upgraded the connectors, power cord, and added DC protection circuitry which these amps lacked:
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-5/191557/1927085
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