Feature Install
Inside a 98-Inch Samsung Install in New Farm
A behind-the-scenes look at how we stud-anchored a 65kg, 98-inch Samsung QLED over a floating media console in a New Farm penthouse — without a single visible cable.
When the owner of a Merthyr Road penthouse asked us to put a 98-inch Samsung QLED on a plasterboard wall above a floating media console, the first thing we did was not reach for a drill. We reached for a stud-finder and a spirit level, and then we sat on the floor for twenty minutes drawing the job out in pencil on the wall. A 98-inch TV weighs 65 kilograms. You get exactly one chance to put it in the right place.
Why stud-anchoring matters at this size
A 98-inch panel exerts serious leverage. The brackets we use for installs like this are VESA 800×600, rated to 125 kg, and they bolt into two vertical studs with four 100 mm coach screws — never into plasterboard with hollow-wall anchors. In Queensland timber-frame housing, studs are typically 450 mm or 600 mm apart. That dictates everything about where the TV can go.
In this apartment, the stud spacing was 600 mm and the console was already installed. The centre of the console sat 40 mm left of the nearest stud pair — which meant we either off-centred the TV, or we shifted the console. The client chose to shift the console 40 mm. Worth the extra hour.
The cable run
Behind a 98-inch TV you’ve got a power cable, typically two HDMI runs (one to an AVR, one to a console or streaming stick), and often an ethernet line. You cannot stuff all of that through a single wall-cavity hole and call it done — it’s a fire and warranty risk.
Our standard run for installs this size is:
- One recessed power-relocation kit behind the TV, feeding from the existing console-height outlet. This keeps mains power legal and within building code.
- A low-voltage brush plate at TV height and console height, with HDMI 2.1 and ethernet fished through the cavity between them.
- A cable-tidy sleeve inside the cavity so everything stays separated from the power line.
Total job time for this stage: about 90 minutes.
What the install actually looked like
The client had asked for the TV to sit flush — no visible tilt, no air gap behind the panel. We used a low-profile VESA plate with a 28 mm stand-off, which is about as flush as a 98-inch panel gets without going into a recessed cavity install.
We could have recessed the TV into the wall by building out a 45 mm plaster box around it, but the owner wanted to keep the existing skirting line intact. Flush-against-wall with a low-profile bracket was the right call.
Tools and materials used
- VESA 800×600 heavy-duty fixed bracket (125 kg rated)
- Four M8 × 100 mm coach screws
- Recessed power relocation kit (Australian 10A)
- 3-metre HDMI 2.1 in-wall rated cable
- Cat6 ethernet, 3 metres
- Low-voltage brush plates (2×)
What went wrong (and what we did about it)
Halfway through the power-relocation cut-in, we found a second run of Cat6 already in the cavity that the owner hadn’t mentioned — an old security feed from a previous tenant. It was dead, but it was running diagonally across our intended cable path.
We stopped, photographed the cavity with a borescope, and confirmed the cable was disconnected at both ends before we rerouted around it. Adding 15 minutes to a job is cheap insurance against cutting through live Cat6 or — worse — a data line that was still in use.
Final result
The 98-inch QLED sits 1820 mm from the floor to the centreline, dead level, with zero visible cables. Total time on site: 3 hours 45 minutes, two installers.
The owner has since sent us a photo of the room lit up at dusk with the TV playing a nature doco. It looks good. That’s always the real test.
If you’re planning an 85-inch-plus install and want to know whether your wall can take it, send us a photo of the space and we’ll tell you straight up whether it’s a stud-mount job or needs a wall build-out. No sales pitch, just a straight answer.
