Surround sound question cables vs optical cable?

Optical cables are a type of "surround sound cable." So are coaxial audio cables. Either would work and would give you a great surround sound experience with the sound moving from speaker to speaker (left to right or whatever). That is, uming you have the right setup, and you are watching something with the sound split into 5.1. The red and white audio cables only give you 2 channels (stereo, left, stereo, right).