I sympathise with the OP having to return two turntables & hope he will be third time lucky, but if you look at Technics own video about the renaissance of this iconic table and the fact that they had to drag out of retirement the older workers they could find & the latter in their turn had to train new assemblers & technical staff, who were unacquainted with this technology, I am not surprised some of the early tables show problems.
After all, even if based on an existing design this is effectively a new product.
Personally I always try and wait a year or two before purchasing in order to let the early glitches get sorted.

