My aiwa surround sound subwoofer is not working. I can here bass when I touch my finger to its cord however. Just isn't working when I play music.

This is a powered sub, which means it has it's own amplifier providing the power for big bass. When you removed the back you probably removed it's amplifier too so it's normal that now you only get the bass performance of a normal speaker.

Looks like you have a faulty connection. First, unscrew the back and check the servo( motor piece you plug into) inside. You'll see the connection not taking place for it to turn it on. Or just the cord leading in isn't making the connection with it.

The sub channel will be switched off. You need to find the speaker settings, locate the sub channel settings and switch it on.

If you think about it, you don't even NEED a TV to access surround sound unless the TV is tuning the stations off the air and then only if it HAS facilities to export the audio. If you really get TV programming from a Cable or SAT Box THEY are legitimate high-end digital audio sources.

http://www.retrevo.com/support/Aiwa-NSX-D9-manual/id/1076ag408/t/2/

After considering all that THIS product has no facility to accept a true digital signal from anything external anyway. It only accepts 2-channel analog audio. The best you could hope for from the TV or Cable Box is stereo audio. Page 27. Of course, once that is conencted you COULD play around with the various DSP modes. "Surround" is not an option from the two speakers included nor does the electronics support multichannel.

Aiwa isn´t a good subwoofer. The best are Rel, Sonus Faber, etc.
Here is the characteristics:

.1 20 watts, Min. RMS at 4 ohms, from 40 Hz to 160 Hz, with no more than 1% Total Harmonic Distortion

The subfrequencies are below 25 Hz, but TS-W60 work over 40 Hz!.

Bass frequencies (woof) are from 25 to 50 Hz.

Bad, very bad.

Sell it and buy a good subwoofer.

JMG

You might have blown the speaker. This happens when you play things too loudly and you ruin the speaker inside. You can test this by playing something with a decent amount of bass and turned up a bit. If you hear like a "rattle" in the sound or like something isn't right in the heavy bass notes, then you definitely blew the speaker out. This isn't a tragedy. They're fixable if you bring them to a place that repairs speakers. But I would definitely test it first by hooking it up and playing a loud song with a lot of bass. Hope that helps a little! Please rate my solution!
- Frankie

One pair goes to bigger speaker (woofer) and other pair for smaller speakers in box, to get full frequency response, you need to hook both cables.

I apologize if this question sounds offensive, but did you plug the power adapter in to an electrical outlet? When the power switch is on, do you get any LEDs or an audible thump or hiss from the subwoofer?

Receivers often have the ability to switch off the subwoofer channel. Especial if it wasn't connected before. If it has the ability to do a speaker test or set up try that. If it bypasses the subwoofer that will confirm the channel is not on.

Hey Tad, I have the same problem and perhaps a solution. I just moved to the other SW "pre-out" and it seems to be working..the green light is on . Whatever works i guess.