REL and some other subs can be connected to the amp. An alternative is to use Y connectors from the CD player, which I assume has a volume control, to both the sub and the amp. This can work quite well, the critical factor will be the quality of the output circuitry of the CD player, they are not all up to the job. Your CD player could have no inputs, its only function is to read CDs. The only exceptions would be ones that allow you to use their internal decoder with an external transport, but this would be found on very high end players only or possibly some universal players.