Problem fixed, at least kindasorta. The Denon 2800 (not the MK II) I tried last night had the same audio drop out problem.
Trying a Marantz 7010 now. No drop outs on any source. Probably a "keeper".
Not sure why the Denon pieces reacted this way (some kind of "jitter" problem using their digital coax out??).
In any event, the Denon-made DVD players (2800 and up) connected to the 950 via a digital coax at least (never tried the optical connection, although "DenonJeff" as he's called with Denon made that suggestion)don't really want to talk to each other consistently.
Hope I save my fellow forum members some heartache if they go through this same audio-hell.
Go figure.
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