Digital BW, The Print

Let mw wiegh in here.  I finally opened and installed the Epson RIP.  
I also have IP5.  Using a Mac G4 and Epson 2200.  Here are my 
preliminary impressions.

(1) Both are unnecessarily hard to use and not intuitive.  IP 5's a 
little more intuitive to print with (once you have it set up 
correctly) -- all you do is open the image, select the correct 
ink/paper profile and hit print (oh, and remember to check the little 
box that says "sheet" for the paper feed, otherwise it won't print).  
With the Epson RIP, you have at least 3 or 4 different places in 
different programs or parts of programs where you have to input 
settings.

(2) I would NOT call the prints from the RIP neutral.  As others have 
mentioned, they appear "warm-neutral."  Holding an Epson RIP print 
next to an IP 5 print of the same image, the Epson RIP print clearly 
is warm.  Not quite sepia, but definitely tending toward brown.  In 
fact, it looks almost the same what I recall when printing with the 
standard Epson driver and choosing black ink only (the prints with 
the RIP are slightly less brown than black ink only, but not much.  
I'll have to run a black ink only print tonight of the same image to 
compare directly).  Now, the fact that prints with the Epson RIP are 
not neutral gray is not necessarily a bad thing -- probably a matter 
of preference and I haven't decided yet.  I'm going to look at the 
prints again tonight.  I have to say at this point hat in terms of 
neutrality, I prefer the IP 5 prints.  Perhaps my idea of 
what "neutral" is supposed to look like is different from others', 
however.  The Epson RIP prints do seem to be MUCH more free of 
metamerism than using the standard Epson driver, and probably equal 
to the IP 5 prints in this regard. (Again, though, if I want slightly 
warm greyscale prints with little to no metamerism, however, I could 
use the standard Epson driver and "black ink only.")

For me, the question will come down to whether I prefer the IP 5 
prints so much over the Epson RIP prints in terms of neutrality 
("neutral" warm/brown v. "neutral" cold/gray) that I'm willing to pay 
$300 more for IP 5.  (lack of metamerism is a wash between the two 
for me, but I admit that I don't have the best eye for subtle tonal 
shifts in different lighting conditions -- e.g., my "black" socks 
today are actually blue because I picked them out in poor lighting).

BTW, for the Epson RIP, I'm using the workflow posted and amended by 
Sandy (I think).