Re: Help in choosing A1 Printer
Hey Don,
Most folks doing fine art (giglee and that sounds like what you are after), here in Australia are using Epson 44" (A0 but you need extra canvass around an image for stretching) printers. 9600/9800. The new Epson 1180 (64") might even be worth considering.
Your other main choices are HP (thermal inkjet - vs- piezo on Epson) and Canon. Canon claim a wider gamut as they use 12 colours but I've yet to see that proven in the market - Epson's multiple blacks make a huge difference not just for mono reproduction but in midtones for colour too. (Black, Photo Black, Light Black, Light-Light Black!)
Roland make a pretty good art printer too - using Epson printheads. So does Mimaki.
But the support environment for art repro and photography around Epson is much better than the others both in software (3rd party) and knowledge on how to control the droplets which is what it is all about.
Having said all that, they are all good. HP does all the art repro for (I think) the Tate Gallery in London, e.g.
So get the best deal you can, chose the right driving software and check out the kind of support -especially on colour management - you are going to get.
That'll cost ye a Guiness!