Boy, oh boy—as someone who has benefited so much from the experience and expertise of those with legitimate electronics knowledge, let me save you a lot of time and trouble. I make my money mixing records and playing guitar—I will always be the first to admit that I have no business working on electronics, but when it comes to the effects of strings I can tell you a lot. Unless you just prefer the feel of a big string under your fingers, go with the lightest gauge you can stand with respect to your tuning.
While electric guitars can withstand large changes in string gauge, acoustic guitars are really different animals altogether. A typical player only thinks of the changes as they relate to their fingers. The reality is how they affect the tension on the bracing; the grain orientation of the top, sides, back, and bridge, and the way they're glued together; the relationship of the nut and bridge. From what the OP has said, I don't expect there to be a big jump in tension/gauge, but it's always worth considering all factors in the equation as it relates to the long-term effects. But you're not wrong at all—a truss rod is an incredibly easy thing to screw up without care, and folks often monkey with the truss rod first if a guitar's action changes after a switch in strings.
Anyway, I feel like I might've only bought a coated set once in my teens, but from memory the tension was not sufficiently different to make changes at the truss rod. I'll still stand by what I've said before: the top end lasts a bit longer and might even by more pronounced when you first string the guitar, but it's far more artificial than anything else you could buy today or even fifty years ago. I bought Martins for nearly a decade and no one that paid for my playing complained—nor did my hands. I like the nickel-wound D'Addarios these days because I prefer warmer sounds, but if Martins are as cheap in New Jersey as they are in Tennessee you'll be well served to grab a set and let us know what you think.
