Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for the additional feedback.  I suspect you are all correct.  A 
RIP probably is required, since this paper accepts ink differently from 
most of the available paper settings in the Epson driver.  I profiled 
the original Crane Museo for a friend awhile back and the blacks were 
very weak.  I was hoping Museo Max was better.

As a starting point, I always print a gray stepwedge and a series of 
color blocks (using an RGB file and the Epson driver) trying various 
paper and quality settings before printing a profiling target.  Once I 
have the setting that gives me the best overall result and Dmax, I use 
those settings to print the final profiling target for measuring.  In 
the step wedge on Museo Max, I measured multiple steps and my darkest 
step (RGB 0,0,0) actually gave me the best Dmax of all the steps, at 
about 1.55.  That was after letting it dry overnight.

Thanks again.

Lou