Sorry, forgot to say:  it's a 97 XLT

When I hit a big pothole in my 97 xlt the sound from all the speakers
cuts out but it will quickly come back on moments later.  Sometimes one
speaker will shut off completely like you mentioned but the sound
returns 10-15 minutes later.  Wish I knew more about what causes this
problem.

I had this problem/have this problem regularly with after market speakers
installed in my Explorer.

I took it in a couple of years ago for this issue, and the stereo-installer
reported that my speaker was barely hanging on the mounts anymore. He
re-tightened all of the various connections, and the sound sounded awesome
again.

It seems that this happens about every two years with my car. I do ride on
rutted beach roads occasionally, which probably puts some undue stress on
stuff like this. When I get some free time, I plan to take the time to open
the door panel and see how things are hooked up, and work on a more
permanent solution.

Paul

As with any vehicle that goes over roads that aren't perfectly smooth (that
would be tax dollars put to proper use....yeah right), your vehicle
undergoes constant shaking.

This is an easy fix.

Pull off the door panels, easy to do a few screws and a couple of snap clips
around the perimeter of the door panel. (Careful it is not too cold outside,
this could crack the plastic)

Your speaker will be completely visible, and all you have to do is remove
the 4 screws holding it to the door frame, and check the harness to see if
it is secure, if not; plug it in again replace the speaker and door panel,
turn up volume and enjoy.

My recommendation while you have the panels off it to pop in a pair of three
way speakers. You would be amazed at the sound difference.  Take a peek at
what I have in mine.the url is under my name.

The centre console hasn't been out for any reason lately, has it?  There is a
multi-pin connector from the CD changer that has to be perfectly re-connected
tightly, or the same thing can happen.