QTR-Quadtone RIP

I'm not sure if this was due to changes in printers or in versions of 
QTR, but when I used an Epson 2200, this was never a problem.

Then I found that with an Epson 2400, QTR was taking forever to 
process and/or (I'm not exactly clear on what the actual process is 
it goes through...) spool prints

Doesn't matter if they are 8x10 or 13x19 - the former just don't take 
quite so long. But for a 13x19, I'm talking 30+ minutes

I recently got a 3800 and thought maybe it was just the interface 
with the 2400, but no - I get the same.

I've tried various different connections - Firewire, USB, Network - 
same for each. I've also fiddled with all sorts of different Windows 
settings, but none made a difference.

This is compared with using the Epson driver that for the same print 
takes maybe 4-5 minutes at most

All on the same (somewhat old, but still fairly fast) Windows 2000 
machine

Any ideas or suggestions (as I really like QTR...)

thanks

tim a