I love to play The X-Files. It's a great game to learn advanced ball control on. People trash the sound, and yes, if you suck at the game and can't break 3 million, the sound is dull, repetitive, and static sounding, but the longer you keep the ball in play, the better the sound gets. I find that I just want to keep the ball in play to enjoy the music. Yes, you have to add a 2nd speaker in the backbox as a minimum sound upgrade. Better yet, get a replacement subwoofer for the cabinet speaker too. The stock cabinet speaker can't handle the low frequency attract mode sequence without serious distortion even at default volume level and the stock Sega backbox speaker is a pitiful joke. Wire the replacement backbox speakers in series, not parallel, to be sure not to overload the amplifier which requires a load of at least 4 ohms. Be sure your cabinet speaker also puts a load of 4 ohms or more on the amp. I think it sounds great on 8 ohm loads and I know the amps will run cool, so that's what I use by using two 4 ohm backbox speakers wired in series and an 8" 8 ohm woofer. You don't need a lot of power if you've got plenty of efficiency. Be sure to check the efficiency rating of any speaker you purchase. You should try to buy very efficient woofers of 87db 1w/1m or higher. The backbox speakers are smaller so efficiency is not as important. An increase of 3db in efficiency is equivalent to doubling the power of your amp. Of course, so is halving the impedance, so you might want to target 4 ohms if you like it loud.

Added over 8 years ago: Strike the 8 ohm subwoofer statement. See later post. Go all out with a car amp and regulated power supply. The stock amplifier is only 14 watts. The X-flies machine will vibrate your whole house with 200W going into a powerful subwoofer. The truth IS out there... and the truth is MORE POWER IS GOOD

You wouldn't need a shaker motor at all if you just take advantage of the unrealized potential in the sound. The X-files has some tremendously powerful bass in it's soundtrack, but the wimpy speakers used for production do not even come close to releasing it. I jettisoned ALL of the original speakers (8" in the cabinet and only one 4" in the back box). I put in a good PAIR of 4" full range Pioneer car speakers in the backbox (wire in series for 8 ohm load with the stock 14W backbox amplifier is fine for full range), then I put in a 200W RMS dual voice coil 8" subwoofer with 200W RMS car power amplifier (low pass activated) and 30amp 12V DC (voltage tweaked to 14.4V DC) power supply in the cabinet. The result? The sound is now the best of any pin I've ever heard (or in this case...felt.) The bass pulsates through the cabinet more than any shaker motor could twist up. You have to tie everything that can vibrate down and put some vinyl electrician's tape around the entire edge of the playfield glass to keep the glass from slapping around in the cabinet. Once you do this, you will absolutely LOVE your X-files sound and will laugh at any mention of a shaker motor. Keep the gain turned down a bit though because the dynamic range during multiball is pretty extreme and you don't want your machine to literally dance out your doorway!

Added over 8 years ago: As if the subwoofer wasn't enough, I recently added a tactile transducer (aura bass shaker) to the sound mix. This is a marvelous improvement in that it gives you some fantastic cabinet vibrations without increasing the sound pressure level (SPL) of the bass. Wiring the bass shaker to one channel and the subwoofer to the other channel of a stereo car amplifier adds a really powerful and immersive experience to your X-files. You can get all of the benefits of massive cabinet pulsing/shaking without additional software or an expensive and noisy shaker motor. The bass shaker also reduces audio distortion, air movement and playfield/coin door vibration noise. Best of all, you get an "otherworldly" feel to the game that enhances the X-files theme. I highly recommend this inexpensive upgrade to your X-files.

I saw a pic of a subwoofer being mounted from the inside of the cabinet with the original speaker grill screen still in place in an earlier post. BAD!!!
If you are adding a sub, remember that for most subs, the speaker cone must have ample room to throw forward and most subs throw well beyond the thin gasket surrounding the perimeter of the front of the speaker. With that in mind, that original grill screen will stop a sub cone in its tracks and essentially turn your sub into a full range speaker with extremely limited bass response. Be sure to test your cone travel and make sure the cone can fully travel as far forward as the suspension spider will allow without any physical impediment, otherwise you not enjoying any performance gain from your speaker upgrade. Simply remove that grill and leave it open so your speaker cone can travel through the cabinet hole. Mount it to the bottom of the cabinet instead of the inside if you insist on keeping it. Of course, the more amplifier power you add, the more throw you'll get, so again, be sure that you are not shooting yourself in the foot by limiting your cone travel with any physical barriers like that grill screen.

I wouldn't be apologizing for that score. I've only broke 10 mil once myself. Congrats.

So, X-files season 11 is officially a go now. How much more will an X-files pin be worth when it returns to the spotlight later this year? How many TV shows have returned to prominence after being off the air for 20 years? I'm holding on to mine like it was an original Medieval Madness. Welcome back X-files!
http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/the-x-files-season-11-to-begin-production-this-summer-w478110
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/x-files-returning-for-a-10-episode-11th-season/

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