I just ordered my first amp, a monolith 7 after reading butt loads of reviews. I think I can deal with weight all right (93lbs), but people say it gets hot. My Denon 5200 seems to get hot in the cabinet but ventilation fans keep it in check. So how hot is enough to be concerned? If I run all 7 channels at high volume will I still be able to put my hand on top of the grill? My cabinet will have 6 inches of space above the amp as well as a open face front. I fully intend you install another 4 inch fan behind the amp too. Need a lil' feed back please.
I live in the Arizona desert so I have opinions about heat and what's hot and what's not. Putting heat producing electronics in cabinets will allow heat to build and will ultimately shorten the life of your equipment if steps and precautions aren't taken.
It sounds like you have taken necessary precautions by having 6 inches of headspace. My manufacturer specifies 6 inches of free headspace as a requirement so that's a pretty safe guesstimate. Adding fans is another excellent idea. I added in an AC Infinity Aircom S9 automated fan unit to my system to exhaust heat and it works great.
How hot is too hot? Whatever your manufacturer says in its owners manual is what you should use as a guide. What the Aircom S9 operations manual says is that it will kick on at 88 degrees airtemp coming off the unit and cool the unit back down to 84 degrees. To extrapolate a bit, that would mean 84 degrees is a safe operating temp and anything over 88 may be grounds for concern. Don't take that as gospel, but that's the operating parameters of my Aircom.
I know you can run electronics in higher heat than that without issue. Many people do because of restrictions on where they can place equipment. But, if you have a choice, cooler is better every time.