For those who are still struggling with dark prints with NEC monitors as I was, the solution seems to be as MarkDS has written elsewhere is to adjust luminance. After I first calibrated my NEC 26" luminance was 343! Monitor brightness was 100%. I cranked that way down to 10% then worked back until I could get luminance to 120, then re-calibrated. The first print, in terms of lightness vs darkness, was perfect. Don't know if this works for so many others who seem to be struggling with calibration, but it works for me. Thanks Mark, Walter, etc.
Peter