Bland photos printed from Aperure 3 but jpegs OK from Preview ?????

Question

HI
Probably a common question but I have already wasted half a day websurfing, and reading books to find an answer with no luck so here is my situation ..
I am an amateur and don't need accurate colour reproduction juts the ability the print what I see on the screen.  I never had any problem printing faithfully rendered prints from iPhoto on a simple HP C4280 Photosmart printer using Kodak paper of various grades (mostly Ultima Glossy).
Now using Aperture 3, but the prints (EOS, Adobe 1998, RAW files) are lifeless (low contrast and low brightness I think).  However, I can export the same file as a full size jpeg and print from Preview (using Colorsync not Vendor in print setup) without any difficulties with no tweaking at the printing stage. Both the Preview image and the AP3 image look identicle on the screen which I have "calibrated" using the OSX utlility.
In Aperture 3 I see no way to select Colorsync to handle the color matching.  In the AP3 Print menu under Rendering/Color Profile I have no idea what to select as an alternative to Printer Managed (the list is gobbledegook to me and I seen nothing matching either the printer or the paper).  This is the only difference I can see between the process of printing from AP3 and iPhoto which maybe causing the problem (thought: maybe all that is needed is to alter the image at the processing stage, but would prefer to get the fundamental print settings correct first).
PS  I spent a couple of hours this afternoon at my local Kodak, HP, and Fuji print centers and printed out a collage of selected images at each to see which product I preferred for my long term printing needs (any idea what printers these people use for A4 and less?).  Aside from some difference in the image adjustment required in each stores, the prints were all very nice.  I started this exercise because printing from my printer is very costly as the cartridges don't last long (an inkjet technology print head cleaning issue no doubt).  Anyway, was bouyed up by my shop print quality and thought I'd compare them to one from my the HP Photosmart.  Had not printed from AP3 prior to this.
PPS  In Library/Printers/HP?Profiles their is nothing for this model printer.

Answer 1

(spelling fixed)
HI
Probably a common question but I have already wasted half a day websurfing, and reading books to find an answer with no luck so here is my situation ..
I am an amateur and don't need accurate colour reproduction juts the ability the print what I see on the screen.  I never had any problem printing faithfully rendered prints from iPhoto on a simple HP C4280 Photosmart printer using Kodak paper of various grades (mostly Ultima Glossy).
Now using Aperture 3, but the prints (EOS, Adobe 1998, RAW files) are lifeless (low contrast and low brightness I think).  However, I can export the same file as a full size jpeg and print from Preview (using Colorsync not Vendor in print setup) without any difficulties with no tweaking at the printing stage. Both the Preview image and the AP3 image look identical on the screen which I have "calibrated" using the OSX utility.
In Aperture 3 I see no way to select Colorsync to handle the color matching.  In the AP3 Print menu under Rendering/Color Profile I have no idea what to select as an alternative to Printer Managed (the list is gobbledegook to me and I seen nothing matching either the printer or the paper).  This is the only difference I can see between the process of printing from AP3 and iPhoto which maybe causing the problem (thought: maybe all that is needed is to alter the image at the processing stage, but would prefer to get the fundamental print settings correct first).
PS  I spent a couple of hours this afternoon at my local Kodak, HP, and Fuji print centers and printed out a collage of selected images at each to see which product I preferred for my long term printing needs (any idea what printers these people use for A4 and less?).  Aside from some difference in the image adjustment required in each stores, the prints were all very nice.  I started this exercise because printing from my printer is very costly as the cartridges don't last long (an inkjet technology print head cleaning issue no doubt).  Anyway, was buoyed up by my shop print quality and thought I'd compare them to one from my the HP Photosmart.  Had not printed from AP3 prior to this.
PPS  In Library/Printers/HP/Profiles their is nothing for this model printer.