EPSON Stylus Pro 10000/10600

The highest quality prints on the EPSON Stylus Pro 10000/10600 can be made using the “Variable” Dot Volume and Unidirectional print direction. When printing using a variable dot mode, the printer lays down different volumes of ink in the highlights than in the shadows. To Optimize Print Quality on Epson 10000/10600 printers, read here.

Variable dot modes require that twice as much data be sent to the printer, which can cause problems if your connection is not fast enough. Printing with six inks at 1440 X 720 dpi using variable dot modes requires 224 megabytes of data for just one square foot. This is an enormous amount of data, so it is critical to connect the EPSON Stylus Pro 10000/10600 properly. Failure to set up an adequate connection will "starve" the printer for data, causing pausing and odd motions of the print head.

The recommended connection for the EPSON Stylus Pro 10000/10600 is an IEEE-1394 (FireWire) interface card. EPSON has available a Type-B IEEE 1394 Interface Card that fits into the card slot on the printer.

If an IEEE-1394 interface is not available, it is likely that the system will not keep the printer fed with data in the most demanding modes. We strongly recommend using the IEEE-1394 interface.

When choosing print modes and matching color configurations for this printer, be careful to distinguish between normal 1440 and 720 dpi modes, and the “DRY” modes for those output resolutions. The DRY modes are appropriate for media that have trouble with excessive ink, a particularly common issue with the Dye model of the 10000.



Ensure that you’ve selected either 'Pigment' or 'Dye' to match the model of Epson 10000/10600 printer that you are connected to.

The 'Color Separations' controls become active when a monochrome mode is selected.

When sheet feeding the printer, ensure that 'Sheet' is selected on Paper Source.

Optimizing Print Quality on Epson 10000/10600 printers

To improve the print quality of the Epson Stylus Pro 10000 at 1440dpi, Epson has released the firmware revision T02617 (T03013.2617.0517) *. This introduced 8-pass for the 1440dpi print mode. The higher pass count increases the quality, but also lowers the speed of the printer. The Epson Stylus Pro 10600 comes with a firmware version that supports 8-pass.

To use 8-pass mode with SoftRIP, set Print Quality (Passes) to 'High'. This option is located in the Software Control Panel. If Print Quality (Passes) is set to 'Medium', 4 pass mode will be used.

If you have already set the front panel of your printer to use 8-pass mode, SoftRIP will be unable to switch the mode back to 4-pass. To correct this so that you have full control from SoftRIP follow the instructions below.

Warning: Carefully follow the instructions below, as any other changes made on this menu could adversely affect your printer.

To Disable 8 pass mode on the front panel of your printer:

  1. Power off the Printer
  2. Hold down PAUSE as you power on the printer until the Front Panel of the Printer reads HEX Dump = Print
  3. Press the PAPER SOURCE button three times
  4. The Front Panel Should now read MW Select2 = # (where # is a number) **
  5. Press Paper Feed +/- until the front panel reads MW Select2 = 1
  6. To lock in the setting press the Cut/Eject button
  7. Turn the Printer off and back on
Note *: To check your firmware revision, refer to Epson’s Printers Guide page 5-2
 Note **: If you do not see the 'MW Select2' option, your printer does not have a firmware revision that supports 8-pass mode. Contract your Epson dealer to obtain the most current firmware.