Audio problems

I have a 93 explorer xlt and I just put a new radio in and no sound.I looked up a wire dia. and it states that I have a amplified system. When I removed the connectors from behind the old radio they just fell apart in my hand like it was dry rotted. I connected all wires for power but I only tried the left speaker wires for the new radio and nothing. What should I do, just put new wires to each speaker from new radio and just let the amp stay where it is, and will this work or do I need the amp for the speakers to work.

Assuming your new radio has an amp, you can run the wiring directly to the speakers. However, it's more work than to simply get the factory amp working.

All you need to do is connect the blue (Remote turn on) wire from the new head unit to the blue or blue/black wire coming from the truck's factory harness. This will send the amp a signal to turn on.