I'm on the lookout for a good 17 inch real flat CRT also. I require it to be white/ivory as the rest of my system is. Thing is, there are few choices now.
I think the top recommended 17 inch CRTs were LG E700SH and Viewsonic E72f+SB. Someone on TE mentioned that the E72F+SB is not as good as the Samsung 798MB. I've seen the 798MB but was not impressed. It was not as good as the 997DF(19 inch). I don't like the external look of the LG E700SH and I think availability is an issue nowadays. But no one has had anything bad to say about the E700SH.
The E70f was my next consideration but even Techtree has rated it quite poorly. Plus it looks pretty bad(I guess all of Viewsonics' models save for the E72f+SB or other 17 inch f+SB models look pretty bad.)
I wanted the Samsung 793DF from Samsung but it is unavailable right now and people have reported a lot of issues with them as seen on the Techtree website. The only options available in white are the Samsung 794MG and the Philips 107T5. Unfortunately, there's very little info on these models available.
Not much good has been said by philips monitors. But they seem to be quite frank with their specs and I trust Sony, Panasonic and Philips vs Samsung and LG. People have also reported that the DF(Dyna Flat) or MB(Magic Bright) series from Samsung is not actually flat unlike the NF(natural flat) series which we don't get in India.
Feel free to add any information you have.