"If you can live with the color gamut the 9100 is a reliable printer. "
There were some hardware issues with the iPF9000 in high volume printing that may have been solved in the iPF9100 or the iPF9400.
Early European adopter. Not my shop but a friend's.
The flat cable running to the head carriage would wear out in time, the symptoms a problem with the Light Magenta in prints. The electric connection for LM data transfer broken. Happened more often over the course of 5.5 years of use.
Another issue after some years of use was a loss of clamping power of the pinch rolls on the media transport axle so media transport issues. That took a longer time to solve and Canon did not have a clue. Axle was replaced with a new one etc. What actually caused it was the transport axle support underneath. Plastic parts with a small wheel where the axle turned on. The wheels most likely got stuck by paper lint and the the wear increased on a small part of the wheels bringing the axle some mm downwards. Canon provided another design of support without the wheels, a plastic cushion as support. Should now be common on the new models I guess.
Head wear may have been higher than expected but this printer worked 24/5 and pumped a lot of Canon ink. So Canon was very polite in all the service provided including free head replacements.
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Met vriendelijke groet, Ernst
http://www.pigment-print.com/spectralplots/spectrumviz_1.htm400+ inkjet paper white spectral plots, October 2012:
Extended: Ilford-Innova-Hahnemühle-Pictorico,
NEW added: Tetenal-Mitsubishi, NEW halfway: Kodak-Bonjet,
NEW to do: Permajet-FelixSchoeller-Sihl
Would like to get samples: InkPress-JonCone