I'd like to add voice notifications in multiple rooms. It would be nice if they weren't $200 music players or a DIY project. Does anyone know of a low cost (reliable) device that I could use?
Mike
Google Minis?
This or an Echo Dot
Do you have either an Echo or Google device now? If so we can point to the threads that will tell you how to do TTS with it.
If you do not yet have any voice assistants, I'd suggest the google Mini since it is easier to setup at the moment and does not involve having to reauthorize a cookie every 14 days like the Echo currently does.
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FABRIQ speakers are pretty cheap. You get what you pay for. They'll group together. But the child speakers generally cut off part of the last word that is spoken (design flaw). I have three and they work reasonably well for a cheap solution, but I'd stop short of endorsing them because of the flaw.
Sonos sent me a free Google Mini. I re-gifted it, I don't trust Alphabet. That's something I may have to get over one day, the same way I no-longer buy only American made goods. I have an echo dot, as soon as the cookie problem is solved I'll try that.
Do the Fabriq speakers have the same cookie issue? Can't I just add an extra word to the end of a sentence. Like "Front door open, YO", so worst case it sounds like a bad teen impression.
FYI - you may be waiting a very long time for the cookie problem to be solved... 
I wrote the Alexa TTS Manager App for Hubitat based on the work of a lot of others who went before me. To my knowledge, the current Alexa Speaks effort over in the ST world also suffers from the 14 day cookie expiration issue. The only conceptual idea I have seen to fix it is to run a NodeJS server on another computer on your LAN that can provide the cookie via a RESTful API. This would mean hardcoding your Amazon Username and Password in plain text on the RPi. Not an idea solution either... Again, that is just a concept that a few of us have tossed around. What we really need is for Amazon to publish a real public API for using an Alexa device for TTS.
The Google Home Mini is really an incredible value as a TTS speaker now that Hubitat has Chromecast support built-in. I have converted all of my Hubitat apps to use various Google Home devices throughout my home for TTS announcements. You could even create a brand new gmail account and only use it for your Google Home Devices. Just use the Google Home device for Hubitat Automation and/or Text to Speech. You can also simply slide the Microphone Mute switch to disable the ability for Big Brother to listen to any voice commands.
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No. They're all local processing.
I also don't like Alphabet, but damn they are pervasive.
Haha, I said the same, now I have 1 display, 6 speakers, 3 cellphones, 2 watches, 2 TVs with them... and a bunch of friends following me...
You under estimate my level of distrust. They have no problem tracking every android phone second by second and logging location and speed of travel. They also have no problem analyzing your day to day movements and building a behavior profile on you. And since it's possible to use WiFi to track the movement of people in a building, I have no desire to place Alphabet owned WiFi devices in every room of my house. Could Amazon, Microsoft, or Apple could do these things too, of course.
I don't trust Alphabet. It's just the way I feel.
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I'll look for these (Fabriq) on sale, thanks. Also open to any future suggestions.
Mike
The response of the mini seems very quick. Is there any cloud component in the Hubitat implementation?
I use a refurbished Samsung R1 I got from Monoprice for $40 on sale. It works fine.
Here it is for $50 right now:
https://www.techrabbit.com/samsung-radiant360-r1-wi-fi-bluetooth-speaker-black-26128.html
Or wait until another sale.
Edit:. Strange, but now that $50 price is gone.
Oh Cool there's a DLNA driver now on Hubitat! Now just a matter of finding the best player. FABRIQ devices seem like the front runner. Responsive and local control with a $50 starting price point for new and ~40 for used, plus they can do whole house music.
What else can beat that price or capabilities?
Mike
What model?
Really depends on what you want from the voice notification. For example, are you just looking for notifications that will be mostly static like "Front door is open", "Back door is open"? If so, then you can buy Echo dots for less, especially right now at just $30 each. Mute their microphones if you're concerned about being monitored.
Use this method for triggering them. No need to own or have ever owned a SmartThings hub. Ignore the part about Google Assistant Relay, and instead trigger the SmartThings switches with IFTTT. When those virtual switches are triggered on SmartThings, it will trigger your Alexa routine to speak your custom phrase. You'll have to create one IFTTT Applet, one virtual switch on SmartThings, and one Alexa routine for each custom phrase, but once you do it a few times, it becomes simple and you'll be able to setup additional custom announcements in a few minutes.
The one drawback to using Echo at this time (if you consider it a drawback), is you have to create a routine for each of your echo dots. You can use the same IFTTT trigger and the same SmartThings virtual switch for a custom phrase you want spoken amongst all of your echo dots at once, but the Alexa app doesn't allow you to execute a single routine on multiple Echos at once. However, you can send the same message via multiple routines, to multiple Echos at once. For example, when my front door triggers, it simultaneously triggers two Alexa routines, to my two Echos at the same time and announces "Front Door". Some people consider this an asset, since you can send some announcements to all your Echos and some announcements to only certain Echos.
He can do the same with Google Home!
Ok, I know, I need a life...
He can, but if you read earlier in the tread he doesn't trust Alphabet at all and doesn't want any google product in his home. So that's a non-starter for him.
I thought that was because the audio, probably is the data stuff too. Maybe a Facebook portal? I'm joking, time to sleep..
No, it's total distrust. I'm not a google salesman. No skin of my nose.
