What is the general consensus on this board about eccentric bar speed on maximal and near maximal lifts, slow, fast, somewhere in-between, slow for a portion of the lift then speed up, etc..?   

I came across this old thread from a couple of years ago on a different forum and it appears there is research that suggests that elite level lifters tend to lower the bar slower than less advanced lifters on maximal attempts.  This is the opposite of what I expected due to the stretch reflex and prior reading.  The research was done by TomMcLaughlin and is in the book Bench Press More now.  I have not read the book but I did come across this post from a couple of years ago on a different forum and I found it interesting.

http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-118597.html 

Mike,
    Interesting topic and this is always a discussion (in short rounds) at the BWLC.  The conclusion that we've run into is that we try to lower the bar as quickly as possible, however not at the expense of control and quality of rep.  So yes for some of us, the bar speed is relatively slow, for others, a bit quicker, but never fast or slow. 

My experience is I need an "in between" speed otherwise I lose tension in the areas that need to be tense and get tense in the areas I don't need to be and so on.  Obviously, if you move too slow with maximal attempts, you waste A LOT of energy just lowering the bar. Move too fast and your form can give, however, if you refine a fast eccentric vs. slow, I think you are better off.

If you haven't got a copy of Pavel Tsatsouline's "Power to the People: Professional" then you really should. Not promoting the guy but there are some fantastic discussions about topics just like this. He actually covers the lifting speed issue quite thoroughly.

Just to chime in here...

I'm in agreement that it turns out to be an in-between speed.  An interesting observation about the McLaughlin study... just because elite benchers lower the bar more slowly doesn't mean that non-elite benchers should as well.   Just like non-elite lifters should NOT train like elite lifters (sets, reps, frequency, etc), some things like descent speed will no doubt change as a lifter's skill improves.

The cue I have always used is "quick but in control".  I'll also say that geared lifting seems to require a faster descent.  The more gear, the more aggressive the descent needs to be.