I presume you mean something like Magnepans? The most distinguishing charateristic is that they are dipoles. Dipole radiation patterns, their properties and benefits have been studied and described by Siegfried Linkwitz www.linkwitzlab.com. His dipole designs, BTW, use ordinary cone drivers (there's not much else ordinary about his designs). The important characteristic is that there is a null orthagonal to the axis of radiation whic anyone can hear by walking around a dipole and which is a wierd sensation the first time you experience it. The benefit per Linkwitz is that the null significantly reduces or eliminated certain room modes. That's about all I can comprehend so I suggest you check out the URL above.
Compared to other planar dipole technologies, they're pretty rugged, have reasonable impedance curves (Magneplaners are especially amp-friendly), reasonable travel (good for SPLs), and don't require high voltages. In exchange, they're tougher to make in push-pull form which is not a good thing for distortion, and they have relatively weak motors which give them mediocre damping.
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