Line Arrays - Competitive with best dynanics, ESL?

I am a convert, having owned six traditional cone type loudspeaker systems before discovering Sound labs.

The A-1 (and later) Ultimate 1 Sound Labs had every modification and tweak possible done to them and were my absolute favorite, maintaining the reference position in my system for more than 15 years !

My reference now is the Dali Megaline, a large 7.5 foot two way line speaker. As with all speakers there was a lot of break in and moving them around the room to get the sound right.

I eventually wound up having a custom tube crossover built (the only one of its kind) to replace the Dali factory transistor electronic crossover.

The Dali is a true bi-amp speaker, no parts inside the cabinet except for the ribbon and woofers. These drivers are directly connected with heavy gauge wire to the speaker posts.

There is a definite advantage in having removed all the crossover parts, such as inductors, resistors, capacitors, transformers, circuit boards or whatever else might be required for traditional crossover designs.

The signal goes from preamp to (new) tube crossover, to four mono block tube amps. These amps connect directly to the drivers, offering immediacy, micro detail, dynamics and hard driving, fast bass. Plus. Being a two way there is incredible coherence.

As my new tube crossover nears absolute break in, I am getting the best sound I have every had (or ever heard).

Line arrays are used widely in the professional audio market for large venues. It seems the distance helps the point source act as a line source, making up for the spacing between the individual drivers and evening out the sound. Unfortunately, my listening room is not quite large enough for this phenomenon to occur. Wisdom Audio speakers which I own in my system utilizes planar magnetic drivers for the line source in their high/midrange tower where sound is evenly eminating from the complete height of the driver. They do use the line array model in some of there bass towers (4 woofers).
Since my room is limited in size, I chose the Wisdoms. I will agree the soundstage and tonal "rightness"(neutrality?) is phenomenal.

I know Pipedreams used the line array model with success as heard in their room at past CES.

I moved from large electrostatics (InnerSound Eros) and also Klipsch horn speakers to VMPS RM30s (a ribbon-hybrid line source). I'm getting the best detailing, focus, and transient speed I've ever heard. The biggest surprise is that the RM30 were every bit as good as the Klipsch Chorus in reproducing wide dynamic swings.

As with other types of speakers, not all line sources are created equal. I'm a big fan of the line-array design, but the performance of the various models and brands can and does vary quite a bit.

I'm a line array convert too. Good ones will generally come at substantial cost, because high quality drivers are not inexpensive and many are used in these systems. Also the cabinets will be large. That said, some superb designs are very attainable, such as GR Research, Selah Audio, Epiphany Audio, and RAW Acoustics. At a higher price point look into Gryphon, Nola, Genesis, Wisdom, etc.

Line array loudspeakers are typically designed for nearfield listening, while commercial/professional line arrays are optimized for farfield listening. The design goals and intended use for each type are quite different.

You will find a lot of great information about line arrays in Jim Griffin's well known white paper. Download it at http://www.audiodiycentral.com/resource/pdf/nflawp.pdf