Usually the manual for your CD player tells you that your player has a gain section made to drive an amplifer via direct hook-up without a separate pre-amp. My Wadia 830 manual specifically addresses this issue, and I'm sure that other companies do as well. When I have the remote volume control set at about the half-way mark, the sound is very loud and quite musical. In other words, the Wadia was made specifically to do this, as were other companies' CD players, I cannot speak to your Phillips.--Mrmitch
