Why Your Speaker Matters: Setting Up the X1-ANC for Spirit Box Sessions

The most overlooked piece of an ITC rig is the speaker. Researchers will debate sweep rates for an hour and then run their session through a tiny built-in driver that nobody three feet away can hear. If you cannot hear a response in the moment, you cannot respond to it, and the conversational back-and-forth is exactly what makes a live session different from reviewing a recording. That is why I designed the X1-ANC.

What it is

The X1-ANC is a compact speaker with Adjustable Noise Control built in, machined in an aluminum alloy body that weighs about a pound. It delivers a peak sound level of 91 dB, which is enough to fill a room and be heard over the sweep. And because the noise control is inside the speaker, a simple two-piece rig, box plus speaker, gets you clean audio without a separate processor in the chain.

The specifications

• Speaker: 4 ohm, 3 W, frequency response 50 Hz to 20 kHz.
• Peak sound level output: 91 dB.
• Construction: aluminum alloy, about 1 lb.
• Battery: rechargeable 650 mAh, 3 to 4 hours of operating time on a full charge.
• Connections: Bluetooth 5.3 and a 3.5 mm AUX input.
• Adjustable Noise Control built in, with function buttons and a volume control ring around the top.

Every number above comes off the instrument's own spec sheet. Nothing is rounded up.

Watch the setup demo

Setting it up

The X1-ANC works with the P-SB7 in all versions, the P-SB11, the PSB7-PRO, the APF Processor, the DAS-ANC, and the ANC-Mini, plus other sweep radio devices. For a wired rig, run a 3.5 mm cable from your spirit box's audio output to the AUX input. With the wireless P-SB7 Rev 8, the audio link needs no cable at all. Set your levels with the ring on top, use the function buttons to adjust the noise control, and you are running. The volume ring matters more than it sounds: in a dark room you can find and adjust a physical ring by feel, without a flashlight.

One planning note from the spec sheet: the 650 mAh battery gives you 3 to 4 hours of operating time on a full charge. That covers a normal evening of sessions, but charge it the day you head out, and if you are planning an all-night investigation, bring a way to top it up between sessions rather than discovering a dead speaker at the interesting moment.

An honest note on loudness

Louder is not evidence. A response played at 91 dB is the same response it was at 60 dB, and turning up the volume on ambiguous audio is one of the classic ways investigators talk themselves into hearing words that are not there. What loudness buys you is a fair chance to hear a genuine response in real time, and a level everyone in the group hears at once, so each person can say what they heard before anyone compares notes. Keep your level consistent from session to session and your recordings stay comparable too. Between sessions, the Bluetooth 5.3 link streams music from your phone just fine. It is allowed to be a normal speaker on its days off.

See the X1-ANC speaker and the rest of the accessories.