[Leica] MIS UT2 inks printing too light

[pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)]

Anybody else here use the MIS Ultratone inks for B&W printing?  I use MIS 
UT2 with an Epson 1280 and the Paul Roarke curves.  Picture Window Pro, 
calibrated monitor, no other color management enabled.  I've been using 
this setup for over 2 years with no problems.

Two UT2 greyscale cartridges acquired about a month ago print too light.  I 
literally printed a good print using an old cart, changed carts, got a good 
head test pattern, and printed again. Same file, in the same session of the 
same software.  It printed too light, with washed-out highlights where 
there had been beautiful, smooth detail before. It's like everything above 
medium-dark gray has been bumped up 5-10% in brightness.

Since then, I've gotten consistently bad results on all files I've 
tried--too light, and a bit too blue.  I've checked everything--driver 
settings, monitor calibration, that all other color managment is turned 
off.  Everything looks right, and all my quadtone prints are too 
light.  Note that I can print "BO" (black ink only), and that works just 
fine.

MIS exchanged the first cart for another with the next lot number in 
succession.  Same problem.   Now they want me to send them drawdowns.  Due 
to some major projects at work, I had to let things slide for a while.

I've heard rumblings on the Yahoo Digital B&W group about some problems 
with a supplier of one of the light grey inks, which might explain 
things.  But I can't get a straight answer out of MIS.

Anybody else have any info that might shed light on the problem?

--Peter