Audio Systems: 1994 Ford Explorer CD player, wire colors, matching colors

Question
My brother and I attempted to switch out the factory CD player in my '94 Explorer Limited to an aftermarket one. The wiring harness coming out of the dashboard has seven more wires (remaining: striped dark green/light green; dark green; light green; pale yellow; purple/white striped; light green; light brown) than the harness that came with the CD player. The wiring harness coming out of the new CD player also has four extra wires (one solid purple, one purple with a black stripe, one solid green, and one green with a black stripe--pretty sure this is the speaker harness) that we don't know where to put. We connected all the matching colors and it did turn on once (with only the driver's side front speaker working, even though they all worked previously), but now it's completely dead. I connected the antenna and checked the fuses in the wiring harness, but it still won't work. The power and radio worked for a few seconds and we turned it off, satisfied that it was now working. However, when we turned it off, there was a small spark from two loose wires that weren't yet taped. We rechecked the fuses in the wiring harness and they haven't blown. Could we have blown another fuse somewhere? If so, how do I get to it? Or could it be a wiring (or lack thereof) problem? I'm pretty sure all those loose wires aren't there for their health, and I know they belong somewhere. Thank you in advance. I'm lost.

-Kristi

Answer
OK, lets slow down. Got your breath? OK. Remove the aftermarket stereo and bench test it. If you can't bench test it, take it back where you got it and have them bench test it. There is no point going on, if the amp inside the new headunit is blown. If you are lucky, it went into protection mode. Not all decks have this luxury. While you are there, buy an adaptor harness. Re-splice ALL the wires you cut off to the Ford plug, so it's back to factory. Then the job is easy, match your deck's wire colors to the adaptor harness, crimp (or solder and heat shrink) each wire, and plug in the Ford harness. Go to this page, and read it all;
http://www.installdr.com/Harnesses/Ford-Wiring.pdf