Was it worth it? 7.1, 9.1, and up

Small rooms (under 2500 cuft), no. Larger rooms with speakers positioned further from the listening position, it will be an improvement over 5.1. But not by a huge measure until you get to very large rooms.

Your room is just a tad smaller than mine and liked 7.1 using front height speakers better than back speakers. The front heights added a more surrounding sound field, especially with the use of Yamaha DSP modes.

Yamaha CinemaDSP 7ch over 5.1; yes it was worth it.
DTS-ES or DD/THX-EX 6.1 over 5.1; no it was not worth it.

Have not tried 7.1 TrueHD/dts-HD (I'm only aware of Toy Story 3 and Tron:Legacy as 7.1 titles); I've returned to 5.1 and am quite happy. My room is not incredibly large (and has not changed between those three iterations). I would preference something like Audyssey DSX or Dolby Pro Logic IIz over TrueHD 7.1 based on my experience. I've seen on the newer receivers (RX-A) there has been a dramatic narrowing of available soundfield programs and features (compared to DSP-A and DSP/RX-Z).

What about 6.1 thats what Im running haha. I thought it was a improvement in the films I watched. Some scenes definitely felt more immersive

I have the standard 7.2 setup with rear surrounds. I will never go back to 5.1 huge difference in going to 7.2. BTW I use PLIIx Movie coupled with THX Cinema on my Onkyo 808 and the sound is so realistic I get ppl turning their heads to see where the noise is coming from because they think its coming from a different room. My room is 11' W X 23' L X 7.5' H.

7.1 is better than 5.1, but not by a huge amount. I think once you get past 5, the return on investment per speaker dwindles rapidly.

I have a 7.1 setup. When I had an inexpensive speaker set up under $5 for 7 the sound was ok. When I upgraded my speakers to Dali Helicon's and broke the $10k barrior, it was a nice upgrade over 5.1.
I actually thought once I moved to a significant center, the C-200 MKII, that was that best improvement out of it all.

I prefer the 7.1 with 2 surround backs over the 2 presence/height speakers because my center JBL EC35 is an excellent center. I love the sounds of bullets and jets/helicopers flying over my head.

Was worth it for me. Went to a 7.1-speaker set-up in the early 1990s, a few years before discrete 5.1 material came out on laserdisc. The number of channels in the source material has no bearing on whether to go with a 7.1 or 9.1 or 11.1 layout. Likewise, room size has little to do with it. My first 7.1 set-up was in a relatively small 11x13.5 spare bedroom. My futon was 8 feet from the front wall, which left a full 5 feet behind me for good separation between my side and rear speakers.