Speaking of LCD monitors, consider spending a bit more than usual and getting an LCD monitor that uses IPS panels. They're usually better than bog-standard TN LCD monitors when it comes to colour gamut, accuracy, depth, and a lot of other things, like vertical viewing angles. The monitor's pixel transition lag shouldn't be a concern in 2013 anymore, unlike LCD monitors of the old days.
You're better off just getting a 16:9 IPS LCD monitor from whatever brand that you like the most. You should be able to get significantly better results out of the box, and even basic calibration using Window's own tools, or the monitor's OSD should make it better.
Just remember this thing: what type of connector does your computer use for video output? Ideally, you want to have HDMI these days, but DVI, or even the old VGA connector will work. (You might need adapters for the latter two, or the first one, depending on which one's lacking connectors.)
Seeing as you're on a desktop, anything less than 1920x1080 native resolution should be ignored. 1080 pixels of vertical height is already a lot, by the way. It might be even more vertical height than what's provided by your CRT right now.
You should try to get to a store and check out monitors in person, by the way.