Assistant Infrastructure

Good piece on assistant infrastructure.   Much broader than just the question asked in the title.   From my own experience, since nearly the beginning of assistants,  start simple with one, and build others in.  depending on need, or your interest in the concept.  Read about skills/actions to extend capabilities.    Use IFTTT.   Read about the experience of others.  Good to note that the investment of a single device works,  since it can provide you with a vast variety streamed music more efficiently than any other way.

How many smart speakers do you need in your home?
As always, it depends.

in Wirecutter, @wirecutter via Engadget

Whether you're already one of the 20 percent of American adults who own a voice-controlled smart speaker or you're still on the fence about investing in an Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant device or an Apple HomePod, you might be wondering just how many of these intelligently attentive devices you'll need. A smart speaker can offer voice-controlled convenience throughout your home—but only if it can hear you.

The number of speakers you should buy depends on what kind of home you live in, and where and when you'll need your voice assistant to hear you. We have a few suggestions, depending on whether you want to build a smart-home setup, to listen to music and podcasts, to keep in touch with family and friends, or to use a digital assistant to boost your productivity. If you plan to buy multiple smart speakers, we recommend staying in the same family—although you could set up an Alexa-based speaker in one part of the house and a Google Assistant device somewhere else, you'd probably end up forgetting which platform has your to-do lists and which one controls the lights, or you'd have to do lots of redundant setup to get your smart home working with both platforms.  .... "