Not to split hairs - but for clarification sake - The turntable usually has only one connection which is the AC cord that plugs in the wall and supplies current to the motor. Your tonearm, whether separately purchased or included with table, has a phono cable running from its bottom to the phono preamp. These are a continuation of the cartridge connections at the other end of your tonearm. You seem to understand already that it (phono pre) can be freestanding or included in a preamp, integrated amp or receiver. This will have a left and right channel and sometimes a ground wire. If there is a ground wire, you will usually see a gnd. connection near your phono inputs. If you use an outboard phono stage, you will need one pair of interconnects to run from phono out to phono in. Anything will work for now. Find out what you have and then find out later how to make it better.
By the way, hum can be a problem with phono setups. Sometimes that is due to a poor ground connection and sometimes it can be due to the phono section being too close to other equipment.
How much do you want for your CD player? You're not going to want to use it anymore.
