Color casts with a Spyder Calibration kit

Not sure what to expect from a colour (UK English spelling this time ) calibration, but my nice bright colourful Dell 19" Trinitron CRT has been giving me shadow detail issues, so out comes the Spyder colour calibrator.

Easy enough process, however the before and after, the before nice bright colours white whites, after everything is washed out and dull, whites have a slight brown 'sepia' tint.

I have to say I was disappointed. Is this what a calibrated monitor looks like

I have disabled Adobe Gamma, used a rear USB port (more power), got the latest ATI drivers for my video card, ensured the monitor is set to the right colour temp.

What gives?

matthewlrigdon wrote in post #2067053
what were the settings you chose in the Spyder calibration program (native, 6500k, 5500k)?

It it the express so only allows 6500K, the monitor is set the same.

I ran into this the first time I used the Spyder... ugly looking stuff.

Run it again,. I did something with the ambient light to help things out. (Removed glare, etc.. maybe use a sheild like you see on the La Cie and Sony artisan rigs to prevent room light from messing up the sensor )the second time around things were very very good, and the print results are spot on accurate.
Frankly,. even after a better calibration, I prefer the cooler and more contrasty tones of "uncalibrated" for a lot of stuff, so I only "enable" the calibration when I'm working on graphics.

Calibration naturally decreases the brightness of your monitor. Maybe your trinitron has lost it's shine?

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #2067399
Frankly,. even after a better calibration, I prefer the cooler and more contrasty tones of "uncalibrated" for a lot of stuff, so I only "enable" the calibration when I'm working on graphics.

This is what I am beginning to suspect, as when I am looking at photos they look pretty close to what they come out like when printed.