Help setting up MC Analog but still use for two-channel

I think you've got everything pretty much straight. Go ahead and hook up your DVD player to your MC ins on your AVR, then when you want to use that input, select the MC input. Then hook your CD player up to the CD input using standard analog inputs (red/white RCAs), and when you switch to the CD input on your receiver, it will probably default to stereo (unless you have prologic on or something like that), but just selecting stereo or direct will be fine for that. If you are using your DVD player to play music too, you'll just need to switch from the MC to stereo and vice versa. Using the digital coax will let you send a DD stream to your receiver (not TrueHD though), where its DACs will do the conversion. If you ask the player to decode it first, you can play it through the analog outs. I don't know about the relative quality of the DACs (and how much difference it makes), but one thing to consider is the speaker setup options available from your DVD player. If you can't do bass management or set up speaker distances/levels well in the DVD player, it might be better to let your receiver do the decoding when it is able to. Anyway, hope that helps--I think you've got a good grasp on things though.

It depends upon your DVD/CD player, what sort of outputs it has, and its bass management settings.

Some players have an extra pair of L/R analog outputs to which the player's bass mangement settings are NOT applied and these can be used just for what you describe. However, some players have this extra pair of L/R analog outputs, but the bass management settings used for the multichannel analog outs are still applied to these outputs, as well. In this case, if your player's front speaker size settings are set to SMALL, these extra outputs would obviously NOT be useful for what you describe.

But, if your player's front speaker size settings are set to LARGE, then you have no problem either way. 2-channel sources played back via the multichannel analog inputs of your receiver will be played back correctly, in stereo, OR 2-channel sources played back via an extra pair of the player's L/R analog outputs will be played back correctly, in stereo. If you DO have the extra pair of L/R analog outputs and your player's speaker size settings are set to SMALL, you need to determine whether the player's bass management settings are applied to these extra outputs or not.

However, if your player does NOT have an extra pair of L/R analog outputs or if its extra pair of L/R analog outputs are still bass managed according to your player's bass management settings, and the player's front speaker size is set to SMALL, then in order to properly use the player's analog outputs for 2-channel listening, you will have to go into the player's setup menus and set the player up for 2-channel playback when you want to use it for stereo listening. This is what I have to do with my Denon2200, which is normally setup with all the speakers set to SMALL. I can change one setting in its setup menus from "Multichannel" to "2-Channel" for 2-channel playback and this will playback 2-channel sources properly. My player still remembers the multichannel settings, with speaker sizes set to SMALL, when I switch it back to "Multichannel".

Of course, as you already know, with the proper settings in your receiver, you can use a digital (optical or coax) connection from your player to the receiver for 2-channel playback. This is how I normally use my setup. I use my multichannel analog connection (with the player's speaker sizes set to SMALL) for listening to bass-managed CDs, SACDs, DVD-As, and DVDs. For 2-channel, non-bass-managed CD listening, I use my player's coax connection. For 2-channel, non-bass-managed listening of my SACDs and DVD-As (or if I want to use the player's DACs for CDs), I have to change my player's settings to "2-Channel" as the hirez info on SACDs and DVD-As canNOT be passed via my coax connection.

What manufacturer and model# is your player?

I think that he only has one single DVD/CD player. Hence his question.

And what receiver? Why do you think the Toshiba's DACs are "better quality" than your receiver's?

And even if they were "better quality", you may actually find that you prefer the sound of the "lesser" DACs. Fact is, it's impossible in this case to simply compare ONLY the DACs. There are just too many other variables here to simply compare the DACs. All you can reliably compare are the 2 "pathways" (analog outputs of player into the receiver's analog inputs vs. digital output from the player into receiver's digital input) and even then, there are too many variables to know that you are truly comparing the 2 "pathways" fairly. And even if you COULD completely control for all the variables in order to make a fair comparison, you would probably find that, even if you COULD hear a difference, you would be hard-pressed to decide which "difference" you preferred.

What bass management settings are you using in the Toshiba? If you have your front speakers set to LARGE in the player, no matter whether you have the extra pair of analog L/R outputs or not, using your multichannel analog connection for 2-channel stereo playback is a complete non-issue; it's easily done. If your Toshiba doesn't have the extra pair of L/R analog outputs and your front speakers are set to SMALL in the player, then, barring going into your player's setup menus and changing the setup from "Multichannel" to "2-Channel" every time you want to listen to 2-channel stereo, your best option is to simply use the players coax connection to the receiver for 2-channel listening.