Well troubleshooting has come to screaching halt. The Cary has given up the ghost No longer wants to play CD's, says an HDCD is in the tray when it isn't and toslink sounds like total ass (thin, echo sound; like a weak FM radio station). At least I have my Marantz CD5001 that I can hook up. Damn, what a night....
Drafting my RMA email to Cary now
edit: WTF, I unplugged Cary and let it sit for a few minutes. Now it is working fine