JV5 4 color or 6 and which ink

[All Color Signs]

I have just purchased a JV5 printer with all 4 heads needing replacing. Some work has been done to the machine to clear the lines and it had been configured to print in 6 colour. Since my Mimaki supplier in Canada only sells the CMYK cartridges, I am thinking about setting it up as a 4 colour printer. What are the opinions about 4 colour versus 6 colour? I am interested in printing larger graphics such as custom wall paper and may be doing some large format photo printing. Where would I bennefit most from each setup?

Thanks

 

[J Hill Designs]

CMYK - faster print speeds
CMYKlclm - smoother gradients

 

[All Color Signs]

Thanks for the reply. With the speed of this printer, I think even it's slowest speed will be plenty fast for me. Since my other 2 printers are thermal (Edge 2 and Summa DC4), they are really limited to photo printing (in my opinion). I want to try and utilize this Mimaki for short term signage (cheaper per sg ft cost) and for large wall size prints. Will 6 colour increase my cost or does the printer use less cyan and magenta when it uses the light colours with it? Also, is there any place where a person could go to actually see a comparison of the 4 vs 6 colour? I would also like to use this printer to print on canvas media to display prints around my house and shop. Would 4 colour give poor contrast for a photo? If so, would that apply to all types of photos (landscape, people, paint reproductions, etc.). I only want to make this decision once lol.
Thanks

 

[All Color Signs]

Well I spoke with a Mimaki rep and checked out other info on the web. General concensus is that this printer prints very well as a 4 colour. Now I need the info on how to re-plumb the lines for 4 colour. I have all the manuals I know of and it does not explain anywhere the procedure to convert from 6 colour to 4 colour. From the net, it sounds like I need some sort of manifold to join the pairs of C,M,Y and K. All I have found is that you need to remove it to change to 6 colour. Any help would be much appreciated.
Darwin

 

[rightnow]

Im no expert. But what ive read on this forum is that the print quality between 6 and 4 is extremly small. So 4 should be the way to go.