Today I finally got a day free to linearize some of my K7 Cone "profiles" (curve files) and I must say that the difference is more than a little obvious in some of my test prints. I have not only the Piezography 3880, but a 9890 and another 3880 devoted to color work... all using Jon's inks.
I admire and appreciate Jon Cone, but enough is enough, and I just couldn't bring myself to throw more hundred dollar bills at him for custom profiles. I have all the equipment to do it, hence the original post.
My favorite paper is Canson Infinity Arches Velin Museum Rag, as I particularly appreciate its even tonal qualities. Unfortunately, there is no "canned" curve for that paper, so I experimented with the ones Jon supplies, and based on nothing more than my gut and my eye, I settled on the (provided) Moab Entrada Bright as most pleasing.
Needless to say, that was the one I linearized today. After printing an image that is mostly clouds, I can say that without the linearization, the Moab curve "opened up" the whites too much, while crunching the very dark grays as well. The resulting linear curve put those back where they belonged and had some more modest effect on the middle tones.
I'll have a bit of a adjustment for my old ways of correcting my images, but it's hardly insurmountable, and will most likely make such adjustment more logical in the long run.
Anyway, my thanks to everyone once again. This thread; the software from Roy, Richard's B&W Mastery blog posts, and the patient explanations and skill of this group are very much appreciated.