Digital BW, The Print

although i am getting satisfactory B&W prints using  Matta/black ink 
and matte paper on my Epson 2200 most of the time , I occasionally 
encounter an image that prints way too dense . This despite turning 
the ink congig.to -25.In general i have found that the printer 
produces grays that are significantly darker than the grays on the 
monitor.
Some images , which tend to have a lot of shadows, I have given up on 
as far as getting a good print as  they are so dense. I am using 
2880dpi/photorealistic settings . has anyone else had this problem?
Does the Epson RIP ereally work?