So I am sitting in the dealer lot today picking up my CTS and
making adjustments with the radio.

The XM sounds like complete garbage on this system. I plug
in my brand-new 160GB iPod via the supplied cable. I select AUX
and find that the PLAYLISTS and all my songs come up as expected.

However, upon selecting a song, I get the name on the screen but
nothing plays. Select another song, same thing.

So I try unplugging my iPod thinking maybe the volume has to be
up on the iPod or some other setting. I check the plugs. I have the
serial connection on the bottom and the earphone (RCA) plug on
the top of the iPod.

What am I missing here that is preventing audio from playing?

you have to hit the play button when you have the song on the ipod highlighted....did you try that? I had the same issue

As far as the XM is concerned, it doesn't sound great, true, but if you play with the audio settings it gets better...particularly the way the sound is "directed"....IMO Centerpoint sounds the best

The RCA plug is plugged into the car not on top of the Ipod.

Yeah, figured that out. All is well and it plays.

Thing is, in the process of hooking it up wrong I think I
shot the RCA connection. I have to wiggle it around to get all
speakers playing.

Any place I can order a quality replacement cable for this online?

BTW, initial thoughts is that I am not really crazy about the stereo
system in the car. Sounds rather shoddy compared to the one in the Acura (also a Bose).
I tried CENTERPOINT, REAR, DRIVER and NORMAL and found that
CENTERPOINT sounded best. Bass is all the way up. Treble is almost
all the way up as is MIDRANGE. Perhaps you guys do better with other
settings?

Yeah, figured that out. All is well and it plays.

Thing is, in the process of hooking it up wrong I think I
shot the RCA connection. I have to wiggle it around to get all
speakers playing.

Any place I can order a quality replacement cable for this online?

BTW, initial thoughts is that I am not really crazy about the stereo
system in the car. Sounds rather shoddy compared to the one in the Acura (also a Bose).
I tried CENTERPOINT, REAR, DRIVER and NORMAL and found that
CENTERPOINT sounded best. Bass is all the way up. Treble is almost
all the way up as is MIDRANGE. Perhaps you guys do better with other
settings?
Keep in mind that the audio settings are specific to each source. You need to select the source, then configure the audio settings for it. Otherwise you're only setting the currently-selected source and others will be the (poor) default settings.

Yeah, I figured that out. Thanks nonetheless.

I went to Radio Shack and bought an iPod RCA cable
that goes from headphone to the CTS connection. It's
a bit bulky in there now but it will hold over until I can
ask my dealer for another cable. I'm sure they will give
me one if I tell them it's loose.

My initial impressions of the car is rather good, but the
sound from the stereo is just not as good as the Bose system
in the RL despite the fact the CTS has 50 watts more amp power.

On the other hand, I love the iPod capability. It's just great
to be able to access all my music from a portable like this.
I could never do that on my former car.

I'll have to play around with the settings a little more and
hope for improved audio.

Don't turn all three (bass, mid and treble) up like that. Just leave it flat and turn the volume up. Turning all three up can create an uneven response depending on how the active filter works in the car (it's probably a digital filter). The more you turn things up the more imperfect the response becomes. I designed a guitar amp last year and those things get screwy.