Have my new to me Ranger, and the audio system needs some serious upgrading.

The previous owner had a nice stereo with a subwoofer in it but decided to part it out, and returned most of the truck to stock. No more subwoofer, factory had unit, but he left his aftermarket speakers in. The speakers are a problem.

They are terrible: first all all, they are the wrong size being a 5 or 6" circular speaker mounted to a wood template to fit vs. buying replacement size of 6x8. The speakers were from Wal-Mart and were $14 each (Sidenote: guy dropped $$$ for the FX4 package new, then went dirt cheap on the stereo?) He also installed some tweeters, but those no longer work since he removed the crossover. Whatever, I don't care about tweeters anyhow, and I don't want to make this a huge audiophile project.

Also, the factor harness clip was cut. Will I need to get a factory harness replacement or can I just hardwire the speakers in with solder, or connectors?

Are all of the speakers 6x8? I know nothing about audio power and wattages; I don't want to buy nice speakers and have the head unit blow them out (I'll be replacing that too).

On the plus size, the old subwoofer rattled enough that the previous owner put Dynamat in, so that should help keep things buttoned up.

in the end, I don't need the huge bass punch from a sub, but I would like to have a little more bass than what I have now.

 

Look here: Ford Ranger Radio Wiring Diagram

At the bottom there are 2006 wiring diagrams.
There were 3 Stock units, all with 4 speakers, Radios(head) with built in amplifier, radios that had separate amplifier, and radios with separate amplifiers and subwoofers(2 extra speakers)


Yes you can use your own wiring.
I would check a wrecking yard for Ford speakers, they used them for many years so should be a good price.

Yes, 6"x8" but no more than 4.5" deep

 

Thanks! This guy did a number on the speaker install for the truck, now it has 6x8s like it was supposed to!