A novel optical concept is introduced with standard components for highly efficient coherent beam combining a system of (N x N) beams. In a proof-of-principle experiment a well-defined setup with microlens arrays (MLAs) is used to create a beam matrix of 5 x 5 beams. For the combination step the same setup is employed, and the created 25 beams are combined. A combination efficiency above 90% is achieved. Furthermore, the concept allows for dynamic beam combination, i.e., the resulting number of beams and corresponding positions can be controlled by the absolute phases of the array of input beams. A proof-of-principle experiment shows excellent agreement with the model. © COPYRIGHT SPIE