CrunchBang relies on Openbox as its configuration tool, but unfortunately the developers of Openbox forget about the keyboard. So if you want to change keyboard settings like the repeat delay and repeat rate, here is one way:
sudo apt-get install xfce-mcs-settings
See this page for help on installing applications.
Check your settings using a couple of apps. Like them? Good. Are we done? No! The next time you reboot you'll lose your settings. The xfce-mcs-settings tool will have remembered them, but it won't be able to apply them because it hasn't been run. So:
The manager will now automatically run on start-up and apply those settings. So you're done. Use “xfce-setting-show” again when you next want to alter those settings.
There's a simple command called “kbrate” that looks like its should work. It doesn't, so spare yourself the frustration. Instead use the almost as simple xset. Which you should add to your autostart.sh if you want your settings to be permanent.