What is the purpose of supplying the AC to rectifier through capacitors

If your digital voltmeter's input impedance is 1 Megohm or more {as 99% of them are}, you can simply measure the DC voltage across each electrolytic capacitor. Connect the "+" terminal of the DVM to the "+" terminal of the electrolytic capacitor, and connect the "-" terminal of the DVM to the "-" terminal of the electrolytic capacitor. Let the circuit stabilize for 30 seconds after power-on, and them measure & write down the voltages. There are only six electrolytic caps on the schematic of post #1, helpfully labeled C1 - C6, so this won't take much time at all.

Now check to see whether your measured voltage across electrolytic capacitor C1 is polarized according to the schematic. Repeat for C2 thru C6. Voila you now possess the right answer, and you don't have to trust anybody else's opinion and you don't have to run a circuit simulation program.
 
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Reactions: Bas Horneman
These are the ones in my preamp. Took the board out to change polarity. Put in new caps. Clearly bulging. So I was talking **** about them not bulging. 😀
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Simple, it makes it AC and prevents any DC offset sitting on your mains. It is something we have done for years ensuring thatr there is no DC magentising the transformer core. All the crap half wave rectified dimmers, hair dryers causes mains to become offset.