Printing issues in Illustrator with HP Designjet Z6100

Question

I am using Illustrator CS5 on a mac running Lion 10.7.2. Printing to an HP Designjet Z6100. Getting muddy colors. We also have PCs on which we run the same version of AI using the same color management settings, to the same HP printers. We can't match the great color we get off the PC when printing from the Mac. The color management settings on the mac are: color handling=let AI determine color; printer profile=Adobe RGB (1998), on PC SRGB IEC61966-2.1; rendering=relative colormetric. Virtually the same as the PC settings. Running on a network, not sure the software there, but it is PC based.
I have gone to HP, Apple and Adobe without much success. Anyone have this workflow setup, and are you successfully printing great color from your Mac to the HP designjet Z6100, or Z6200?
Any advice would be great! Thanks much,
Janis @ T&C Graphics

Answer 1

A few observations:
"I am using Illustrator CS5 on a mac running Lion 10.7.2. Printing to an HP Designjet Z6100. Getting muddy colors. We also have PCs on which we run the same version of AI using the same color management settings, to the same HP printers. We can't match the great color we get off the PC when printing from the Mac. The color management settings on the mac are: color handling=let AI determine color; printer profile=Adobe RGB (1998), on PC SRGB IEC61966-2.1; rendering=relative colormetric. Virtually the same as the PC settings. Running on a network, not sure the software there, but it is PC based."
- It may help to update all of your applications on the Mac side ( if you haven't already );
- Your color settings are not the same, on the Mac you selected Adobe RGB; on the PC you have sRGB;
- What are your CMYK settings?
"I have gone to HP, Apple and Adobe without much success. Anyone have this workflow setup, and are you successfully printing great color from your Mac to the HP designjet Z6100, or Z6200?"
- I've managed a large format shop where we had PC's and Mac's printing to a HPDesignjet5500, but I was going through a calibrated RIP ( Wasatch 5 ).  Your solution may come down to simply calibrating the printer.  But, I would go a step further and establish a calibration system including a spectrometer.  The HP Z6100, I believe, has an internal spectrometer.  And, I believe HP has an optional Postcript Level 3 RIP.  If you have those 2 elements ( the RIP and the spectrometer ), then you can build your own .icc profile(s) for the printer(s) and paper(s) you commonly use in your workflow.
You did not mention if you had calibrated the RIP or HP Z6100 driver.  If not, I would start there.  Unfortunately, with every iteration of Mac OS's, Adobe application versions, and even HP's update program, there may be something you've overlooked somewhere along the way.  You have to look at certain variables when dealing with printer output.  What may look good to you may not be the most accurate color and, vice versa, what may not look good to you may be accurate color.  The key is establishing an objective and you will get that when you do a thorough system calibration.  I hear over and over that people cannot match what they see on their monitor to what they get in their printer output.  Few ( and I'm not saying you are one of them ) have done a thorough system calibration.  Now, if you've established via a thorough system calibration, that the PC to HPZ6100 is more accurate, then you've isolated the problem to the Mac OS.  The decision now comes down to, Do I dump the Mac for the PC?  Perhaps not, but I wouldn't rule it out.  On the other hand, you may establish that the PC is inaccurate, therefore the Mac should be your point system.  This is all guess work until you calibrate both systems and establish an objective workflow.