Konica Minolta Accurio C14000

[dundi]

We are currently installing a KM Accurio C14000. Looking for some feedback on what potential problems to look out for. Experienced operators would be a preference (already got the sales pitch)

 

[dundi]

On that note, any feedback would be appreciated

 

[SoggyWinter]

Please let us know what your experience is like.

 

[Ynot_UK]

What stage are you at @dundi ?

 

[cqb1988]

I have a c12000, not the best machine that I owned, few issues that I have,

not fusing cardstock at rated speed, thin vertical lines during the print, red prints like orange no matter how we profile it, their "20 years experience color expert" told me to increst max density+3 after calibration, which makes no sense to me....

if this is the only machine you will have, I don't recommend it, but it is an ok machine to just print cheap stuff since the click rate is lower than other competitors, at least for me.

 

[SoggyWinter]

I have a c12000, not the best machine that I owned, few issues that I have,

not fusing cardstock at rated speed, thin vertical lines during the print, red prints like orange no matter how we profile it, their "20 years experience color expert" told me to increst max density+3 after calibration, which makes no sense to me....

if this is the only machine you will have, I don't recommend it, but it is an ok machine to just print cheap stuff since the click rate is lower than other competitors, at least for me.

Red might be out of gammut for KM's CMYK inkset. Can you get the red you want from another CMYK toner printer?

 

[criccidisk]

Man, I really wish I could recommend the c14000, but ours has had nothing but issues since its install last month. I say this as a happy KM user who traded in a c6100 and c4080 for a c14000 and c7100.

No matter what our techs tweak or replace and no matter how we calibrate, linearize, or profile the device, the output gamut is absolutely terrible on it. As another user pointed out, reds are orange. Every flavor of rich black comes out gray. The output is significantly less crisp than our c6100 on the same paper and files. Absolutely terrible banding on solid colors. What's funny is that even with the weak red output, calibrating from the IQ-501 somehow makes everything have a severe magenta cast compared to using our ES-3000.

Insult to injury is that the c7100 we installed alongside it has a SIGNIFICANTLY better gamut at the tradeoff of a few other quality issues.

I really want to say we're in the minority and just have a bad install, but our techs have worked miracles on our previous devices and I'm finding it hard to believe they'd have this many issues on the newer generations of machines.

I'll definitely update this post if anything changes, but I'd be lying if I could recommend the c14000.

 

[cqb1988]

Red might be out of gammut for KM's CMYK inkset. Can you get the red you want from another CMYK toner printer?

I can get nice solid red from my Ricoh. The problem with Konica is the max density is auto adjusted by the machine which is not dark enough for red, I can tweak a little bit to get better red, but it just isn't worth the time since I have other machines print well

Man, I really wish I could recommend the c14000, but ours has had nothing but issues since its install last month. I say this as a happy KM user who traded in a c6100 and c4080 for a c14000 and c7100.

No matter what our techs tweak or replace and no matter how we calibrate, linearize, or profile the device, the output gamut is absolutely terrible on it. As another user pointed out, reds are orange. Every flavor of rich black comes out gray. The output is significantly less crisp than our c6100 on the same paper and files. Absolutely terrible banding on solid colors. What's funny is that even with the weak red output, calibrating from the IQ-501 somehow makes everything have a severe magenta cast compared to using our ES-3000.

Insult to injury is that the c7100 we installed alongside it has a SIGNIFICANTLY better gamut at the tradeoff of a few other quality issues.

I really want to say we're in the minority and just have a bad install, but our techs have worked miracles on our previous devices and I'm finding it hard to believe they'd have this many issues on the newer generations of machines.

I'll definitely update this post if anything changes, but I'd be lying if I could recommend the c14000.

Does c7100 print glossy? they made c14000 print matte, so the color is not as vibrant as glossy output.. I came from c6100 to c12000 too, yes, it is a downgrade, in qualitywise, and speed too, because my machine can not fuse at 120ppm. you can get stable fusing at 140ppm?

 

[jwheeler]

Does c7100 print glossy?

Yes...in fact we have print all of our coated stock on our C7090, and we run all of our matte or uncoated jobs on the C6085.

 

[criccidisk]

I can get nice solid red from my Ricoh. The problem with Konica is the max density is auto adjusted by the machine which is not dark enough for red, I can tweak a little bit to get better red, but it just isn't worth the time since I have other machines print well

Does c7100 print glossy? they made c14000 print matte, so the color is not as vibrant as glossy output.. I came from c6100 to c12000 too, yes, it is a downgrade, in qualitywise, and speed too, because my machine can not fuse at 120ppm. you can get stable fusing at 140ppm?

I'm currently running a job on a fellow print shop's c14000 and the quality is significantly better than our output in color, density, and resolution. This leads me to believe we have a lemon machine or a bad install.

Regarding speed, this 12" x 18" project on 70lb Cougar Text is running at about 74ppm, which is inline with what I'd expect from a 140ppm rated machine. No fusing issues to report from uncoated or coated stock.

Ours exhibits similar Max Density auto adjustment problems and it's quite aggravating. I'd definitely get ahold of your Konica rep about it since this could be a bad lot of machines as well. One quick fix that has gotten us about 70% operational is under your paper expert settings, setting "Dens Adj Per Tray" to +2 or +3. For whatever reason, that seems to provide the reinforcements that the Max Density Adjustment fails with. It's still a bandage however.

 

[cqb1988]

"Dens Adj Per Tray" to +2 or +3.

yes, this is what they told me to do, I could get better red, but M cast on halftone.
they made some improvements after the 100th machine, different drums, if your serial no. is before AC0D011000100 , then we are in the same boat.

 

[Make_It_So]

We are currently installing a KM Accurio C14000. Looking for some feedback on what potential problems to look out for. Experienced operators would be a preference (already got the sales pitch)

Greetings,

I am biased because of my experience with Konica so keep that in mind. I created an account here only to warn you about going with Konica. I have never worked at a place that liked working with them. The techs were always there or on their way. I have both a C6100 and C14000 and they are always going down. They are both down right now as I type this. Getting a tech here in a timely manner has also been a challenge. The 6100 and the 14k are so vastly different in color reproduction, I can't move an order between them when one machine is down. I don't expect them to be dead on but ballpark. They are playing two different sports. The 6100 is almost too saturated and the 14k is too muted. The tech has no idea what to do.

I REALLY wanted these things to work but for my experience they do not. I have an operator on the verge of quitting because all he wants to do is produce and he can't. We are always behind because of the down time. Beware.

 

[dundi]

Thanks to all for the valuable input. We start training today so I will be sure to be on the look out for some of the issues you mention, especially the problems with reds. I'll be sure to post an update in the near future.

 

[Make_It_So]

Thanks to all for the valuable input. We start training today so I will be sure to be on the look out for some of the issues you mention, especially the problems with reds. I'll be sure to post an update in the near future.

I 100% hope your experience is nothing but pleasant. Someone has to buck the trend. May as well be you!