Xerox Phaser 7760 Print Question - Can "pixelly" print be improved?

Hi there, I am new to the forum; I hope I may be able to ask for advice about my printer. I have searched and haven't found a similar question before, my apologies if this issue has been addressed previously.

I have owned a Xerox Phaser 7760 for about 4 years now, and for the life of me, I cannot work out how to fix a reoccurring issue of quality when printing. Please note, I must admit to not knowing a lot about colour profiles and certain terminology, but I'm happy to do some research if it's recommended in order to clarify my questions.

I use all Xerox-brand toners and paper. I notice that the print of my files (usually Illustrator-generated design files (.pdfs) or InDesign files) has a "pixelly" quality - type appears blocky; lines are not smooth, etc. What I am printing is 100% vector - which makes me think that it isn't an issue with low-quality images.

Along the same lines, larger blocks of colour often appear grainy and uneven. I also find it really hard to get a consistent colour - when printing 60 of a file, I will be lucky if 20 are the same shade of blue, if that makes sense.

I have previously played around with the settings in the printing dialog - working with different print qualities ("standard", "enhanced", "photo") which only seemed to yield a difference in the colours, for example a richer pink in "enhanced", lighter pink in "photo" and "standard"). I don't think I'm on the right track with adjusting these but I'm not sure what else to do.

I don't have massive expectations for a print as good as a commercial print but I would like the printer to print to the best that it can - it's an expensive machine here and quite costly to run, and I print for clients who have made mention of this issue as well which isn't a great feeling.

I wondered if anyone with more experience with the printer may recommend any tips for getting a better quality of print - does this sound like a memory issue, or something I can adjust in the settings?

Many thanks in advance if you're able to assist,
Lyndsay

 

I wish I could help more, but i don't fully understand what your meaning when you say it is pixelly. My first thought is that you are clicking an option somewhere to send it to the printer as an image or to rasterize it before printing. On ours vector art is very sharp and smooth. Where it really lacks quality is in screens that are supposed to be a neutral gray and type reversed out of solids. The color to color registration isn't perfect and which such a fine screen pattern you tend to get color shifts and reversed out type looks fuzzy around the edges.