Yeah. I have a two stage temp controller, put my conical with thermowell inside a fridge, wrap it in a fermwrap heater, punch in a 5 degree spread for high/low, and it usually keeps my temps within a couple of degrees of the desired set point. As an example, I set my high range at 70-72, the cooling kicks in at 72 and takes it to 70. Set the low range from 68-70 and the heater kicks in at 68 and takes it to 70. That usually keeps my average temp very close to 70.
I agree completely that its probably a bad idea to just let it run hot, best to keep it within the specified temp range for your yeast.
With meads (yeah, wrong folder, just for comparison though) some have extremely high starting gravity (1.150 to 1.170 or more), I always let them run at the warmer end for 72 hours, but then back them down slowly. Give the yeast a chance to become healthy and active.
For high gravity ales (and meads) I also like to stir them up once a day for the first two or three days, resuspend the yeast and prevent them from getting too caked on the bottom early on.