Cool Stuff: Jónófón Gramophone By Jón Helgi Hólmgeirsson

Jónófón is an acoustic vinyl-record-player that uses a papercup and a horn made out of paper to amplify the music from the vinyl record.


Jónófón strips down a technology that is hidden to most people and copys the design of the classic heavy gramophone. The gramophone that was invented more than 120 years ago by the german Emile Berliner, was a kind of a furniture that played heavy records through a big metal horn. Jónófón however uses a much simpler and lighter form where the record is in the foreground.

The gramophone is sort of a symbol for the beginning of recorded music, but before its time there was no other option but live music.


The player itself is put together out of thin plywood and contains a simple electrical system that is possible to power with a 9Volt battery or to connect to a 9Volt power supply. The horn consists of a thick paper, needle, a plastic film, steelwire and the bottom of a papercup that is used to amplify the soundwaves that the needle carries up from the record. The material used in the horn colors the music with a certain feeling and that is why the music played through the jónófón is characterized with the color of paper.

(source: Jón Helgi Hólmgeirs)