Is this too hot for my preamp? What should I do?

Each amp should have at least 2" above it and to the sides.

If you’re looking to upgrade in a couple years leave as is as you’ll probably have no choice. Yes... give them some room to vent. 

I suggest you not stack your compoients period!

Heat kills....if you can get a rack with a shelf for each component it goes a long way toward a long life.   

Staking is very bad  don't do it put them next to each other.

I always think of monoblocks sitting right next to the speakers.  

This brings up a good point. How hot is too hot?

I have my SS Levinson amp and my AR LS-16 pre in a console I made myself.

There is ample room to the sides and rear and good room above each component. The amp has holes under it for drawing cool air. It stays quite cool.

The pre gets hotter and did so even when it was sitting on a top shelf with nothing above it. Everything is fine now but that may change in the summer when room temps are warmer.

So just in case I’m looking at some cooling fans made to go in component racks. They are pretty cheap and they say they are quiet. You can get a temp probe that runs a thermostat..............but you have to know where to set it.

So what temp should be the cutoff? Where should that temp be measured?

There is a difference between an amp warming up electronically and it being heated up such that it is warmed up from external sources.

@n80 when I had my equipment in an enclosed rack, back open, I used 2 units of 2 fans each with temp control set at 90 farenheit. They ran pretty constantly and kept the temp inside the cabinet with equipment running at between 114 ad 124 farenheit depending on how hard the amps were driven. Amps had 3" of breathing room around each and we’re seperate by shelves. 1 2 fan unit for each amp.
Worked quite well for me fans were hardly noticeable at full speed and impossible to notice at slower speed. The fans were variable controlled by a temp sensor control unit. Had it like that for years, never had a problem. Hope this helps

You also want to separate the chassis’ from each other to prevent self-generated internal vibrations from each to pollute the sound of the others.

I had several repairs related to "heat x time". I then bought two Noctua NF-A14 PWM fans in a data shop, connected them to a 4.5 volt transformer, and placed them behind my hottest components. I don't hear them even from in front of the rack. I turn them on when I notice things are getting hot in the rack. The top plate of my preamp cooled down 12 - 16 degrees Celsius. Total cost, ca $90.

Thanks for all the input guys. I need to rethink my setup a little :)

as a doc, heat can kill a human being and it can certainly kill electronics